OSLO, Norway-Swedish-Japanese mobile-phone maker Sony Ericsson’s flashy P800 phone will start arriving next week, but confusion reigns about its availability. Sony Ericsson spokesman Peter Bodor said the P800 would be in eight European countries and the Middle East on schedule.
The P800 was originally reported as being available next week in limited numbers in Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and Greece. Bodor later said the P800 will hit shops in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Greece, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong and possibly “some African countries,” though not in “big volumes.”
The P800, a phone with a digital camera and personal digital assistant (PDA) software, was originally supposed to be on sale in September, and patchy arrival during the Christmas season will handicap the sales renaissance analysts said Sony Ericsson needs from its new models.
A prototype P800 was shown as early as March. Sony Ericsson information chief Nina Eldh blamed complications procuring components and quality control for the long delays. The P800 also was redesigned to include a Memory Stick, which Sony Ericsson had originally hoped to avoid.
