Wall Street Journal

BUZZ BUILDS FOR SONY GAME PHONE
There have been speculations that Sony Ericsson may collaborate with parent company Sony on a smartphone with a slide-out controller for playing video games. Bert Nordberg, CEO of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, confirmed the possibility, stating in an interview cited in WSJ, “There is a lot of smoke, and I tell you there must be a fire somewhere. Sony has an extremely strong offering in the gaming market, and that’s very interesting.” The Sony Ericsson joint venture has previously avoided the PlayStation gaming platform but may now bow to the threat implied by the popularity of simple games on smartphones.

SWEDISH MAKER LAUNCHES ANDROID TV: PEOPLE OF LAVA HOPES “SCANDINAVIA,” WHICH OFFERS SMARTPHONE FUNCTIONALITY, WINS NICHE MARKETS LIKE US AND UK
People of Lava, a small Swedish TV manufacturer, launched its new Android TV, the Scandinavia, last week, which the company claims offers an experience “very akin to putting a giant smartphone on your wall,” according to WSJ, as it will offer users smartphone functionality and apps, with the aim of winning users in overseas markets as well. If it can overcome financing hurdles, People of Lava’s Android TV will compete against the likes of Sony Corp. Telecom operators may also be affected as they may choose to bundle their subscriptions with free TV sets in the future in order to increase customer loyalty, writes WSJ, citing People of Lava’s CEO Christian Svantesson.

SAP READIES SOFTWARE FOR RIM’S NEW TABLET
SAP CIO Oliver Bussman said his company is supporting the RIM Playbook and will have mobile versions of its business software, including all enterprise resource management applications, ready for the tablet when it is launched early next year. Research In Motion (RIM) is defending its market shares against incursions from Apple and Google’s Android. RIM is behind the others in number of available apps, but is betting on a more modest but high quality app selection to catch up.