Paris, February 17, 2009International music partnership expands to include imaging and gaming
Orange today announces it is extending its strategic
partnership with Sony Ericsson, opening the door to more fun and easy mobile multimedia
services. Coinciding with the launch of Sony Ericsson’s consumer proposition Entertainment
Unlimited, Orange is adding a new range of entertainment phones to the partnership,
bringing high-quality Cyber-shotTM imaging and Java gaming experiences to customers
in addition to music. The extended two year agreement builds upon a hugely successful
partnership which integrates Orange’s music service in a range of Walkman devices.
Since 2006, Orange has sold over 6.3 million, making it the biggest provider of
Walkman phones in Europe.
The new range will be part of Orange’s successful Signature Series, which takes
the best phones and makes them better by giving customers a simple and relevant
multimedia experience. Combining the Walkman handsets with Orange Music Store,
a full-track music download service that gives one click access to over one million
tracks, has seen Orange users of Sony Ericsson Walkman® phones consume 50% more
music than average music phone customers. As well as music, the extended agreement will fully integrate innovative mobile
services from Orange into a new range of Sony Ericsson phones, including Orange
Photo, Orange Games and Orange Downloads.
“This is a natural evolution for Orange and Sony Ericsson and a great example
of how a fully integrated partnership can deliver both value to our business and
a fantastic customer experience,” says Yves Maitre, Senior VP Devices, Orange. “This successful partnership has already brought music to the ears of millions
of Orange customers. We are now strengthening this leadership in music services
and joint marketing campaigns by combining our own mobile innovations with the
best handsets to fulfil our vision, bringing mobile multimedia to everyone.”
Yves continues, “Our clear ambition is to increase usage by delivering simple
and relevant content, whilst helping customers discover new ways to use their
phone. As consumption of music via the phone has grown, our customers have also
shown an insatiable appetite for entertainment services beyond downloading and
listening to the latest tracks. As well as music, we’ve also seen a sharp increase
in games downloads(1) and people sharing photos, so the time is right to seize this opportunity.”
Pieter Pierle, Head of Global Customer Unit Orange at Sony Ericsson says, “We
have always enjoyed a very successful music partnership with Orange, we know that
two of the top three music handsets from Orange are from our own range. With a shared passion to bring mobile entertainment and content to everyone,
Orange and Sony Ericsson are building upon a great partnership to ensure further
success.”
Pieter Pierle concludes, “Our new consumer proposition Entertainment Unlimited
perfectly aligns with Orange’s fresh approach to mobile multimedia, of which entertainment
services play a huge part. Under the umbrella of Entertainment Unlimited, we at
Sony Ericsson are now uniting all the experiences that have made us a leader in
music, imaging and digital content services, making this partnership a perfect
fit for customers that want the best entertainment experience available.”
1 An increase of 60% in the last six months in the UK alone
Press contacts
Vanessa Clarke
+44 (0)7891 056 593
vanessa.clarke@orange-ftgroup.com
Georgina Hart
+44 7730 989 693
georgina.hart@orange-ftgroup.com