InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[thelurker]

Arima Communications lands new 2.5G handset orders from Sony Ericsson

Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Friday 10 June 2011]

Arima Communications has landed orders for two 2.5G feature phones, the Mix Walkman and txt pro, from Sony Ericsson with volume shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2011, according to industry sources.

The Mix Walkman and txt pro both are both equipped with the touch control interface found in Sony Ericsson's Xperia mini-series lineup, a video recording-enabled camera, and both support Wi-Fi functionality. The txt pro is also optimized to support social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Arima will begin small volume shipments of txt pro in June, but shipment volumes will expand substantially starting July alongside shipments of the Mix Walkman, said the sources, indicating combined shipments of the two models will top 500,000-600,000 units a month in the third quarter.

Arima is also expected to receive orders for two additional models from Sony Ericsson in the second half of the year, bringing total handset shipments to the vendor to over one million units a month starting the fourth quarter, the sources noted.

Arima shipped 1.71 million handsets in May, the highest monthly level so far for the year. Arima's handset shipments are expected to reach five million units in the second quarter and to top 22-23 million units for all of 2011, the sources estimated.