14 DAY TRIAL // Sony-Ericsson is strengthening its presence on the Korean market with the company's Android flagship smartphone, the Xperia arc.
The Swedish-Japanese joint venture is going to boost its partnership with SK Telecom by retailing the Xperia arc exclusively, starting next month.
Sony-Ericsson has sold more than 100,000 Xperia handsets through SK Telecom, which is the sole carrier that retails the manufacturer's Xperia lineup in South Korea since 2009.
“It's been confirmed that Sony's latest smartphone will be released by SK Telecom's local network from next month,” said SK Telecom spokeswoman Kim Ji-won.
Xperia arc was introduced during the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and made a strong appearance at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
One of the sleekest Android smartphones on the market, the Xperia arc measures 125 x 63 x 8.7 mm and weighs about 117g (battery included). The phone's astonishing 4.2-inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colors support and 480 x 854 pixels resolution is adapted from Sony’s line of Bravia televisions.
Under the uniquely curved profile, the phone packs a single 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, complemented by an Adreno 205 GPU. The phone will be delivered with Android 2.3 Gingerbread on board, and Sony Ericsson's proprietary Timescape UI on top.
“This year will mark the third year for Sony-Ericsson since our advance in South Korea. With the introduction of this phone we hope for better attention amid the rapidly growing local smartphone market,” said Han Yeon-hee, the chief of Sony's Korean office.
The announcement comes one month after SK Telecom's former partner Motorola ended its alliance with the carrier in an attempt to focus more on the U.S. market where it had been successful with its popular DROID smartphones.
SK Telecom officials also stated that the amount of subsidies to users for the Xperia arc and pricing plans haven't been fixed yet.