Handset manufacturers plot response to iPhone

by Gareth Jones, Marketing 12-Feb-08, 08:45

BARCELONA - Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung are hinging their global promotional strategies on a fresh generation of mobile handsets designed to compete with Apple's iPhone.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world's biggest mobile manufacturers unveiled their promotional strategies for 2008 to Marketing.

Sony Ericsson plans to back the launch of its latest Cyber-shot, Walkman, clamshell and touchscreen handsets with a global brand campaign rolling out in stages throughout the year.

Most of the activity will focus on the X1, the flagship handset under Sony Ericsson's first sub-brand, Xperia. 'We need to build customer engagement to fight competition from Apple and Nokia,' said Dee Dutta, head of marketing at Sony Ericsson.

Meanwhile, Samsung is rolling out a £16m pan-European drive to raise awareness of Soul, its flagship handset for 2008. The campaign will focus on the device's 'magic touch' keypad.

Motorola is planning a multimillion-pound campaign backing its Z10 kick-slider phone in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. TV ads will focus on its ability to upload videos or pictures via YouTube, Google and Yahoo! at the click of a button.