(24 January 2008 5:25 pm)

NEW DELHI: Sony Ericsson today announced the global launch of four new mobile phones, two of them are "inspired by India" and have FM-AM radio on the phone, as the company's user interface showed that radio is a craze in India, senior managers of the company said.

Produced in the company's Chennai facility, the two India-specific phones, R300i Radio and R306i Radio will be launched in the Indian market in the first quarter of this year and will be priced between Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,000, respectively.

Announcing the launch, Sony Ericsson GM India, Sudhir Mathur said that this reaffirms Sony's India commitment, and said that the country is the most crucial in Sony's growth path, which has reached a level where its own growth rate is double that of the growth of the market in the region.

Addressing the media today, Sony Ericsson corporate VP, head, Asia Pacific, Lennard Hoornik said that the differentiating factor for Sony is brining out models that are better and relevant.

"We are looking at local innovation within a global model," Hoornik said and stressed the importance the company gives to India from the fact that a global announcement was for the first time being made from the country.

While both handsets will have speakerphones and Bluetooth capability, the T270 has been designed for what the officials said was "Boardroom Test Passed," or a phone without a camera, as many companies do not allow mobile handsets with cameras in office or factory premises.

These, too, will be launched in the first quarter and sold from the existing 58 Sony Experience Zone showrooms as well as through other retailers. Without disclosing the prices, Howard Lewis of Sony said these are "premium designs without premium price tags."

The officials refused to reveal any specific data, but maintained that the growth in the region is twice the growth of the size of the market, but Hoornik added that the region does not include China and Japan.

However, Lewis said that last month the company's Asia sales increased by 18 per cent, and Sony is among the top three mobile phone manufacturers in the country.

Lewis said that customer interface showed that among Indians, 36 per cent opened the radio sets at least once a day and 60 per cent more than once.

"This was the missing piece in the puzzle," Lewis said and hence the two phones are "inspired by India."

He added that surveys show that customers look for three basic things in a mobile handset, apart from the phone itself: radio, MP3 and long-lasting batteries, and the R300 and R306 have all three features.

The first set has the radio on the back and the phone in the front, while the latter has the phone inside and the radio on the outside, and Howard said that though there are phones with FM radio, none has a separate radio that provides FM as well as AM choice with the ability to preset the station the user wants.

Both phones have 3D sound enhancement facility and 1.3 mega pixel cameras, like the T280 model.

On its India plans, Sony said that it plans to produce more than 10 million handsets in India by 2009, and added that from a present number of 58 exclusive retail showrooms, the company is looking at reaching 300 by the end of 2009.

Sony would touch the rural market by deals with general as well as communication retail chains in those sectors and have no plans of running exclusive shops in those areas.