SE Blogged

Apparently, Sony Ericsson was offered the chance to make the Nexus One before HTC. While we cannot confirm if any other mobile phone manufacturers were approached by Google, it is pretty safe to assume that the CEO of a Swedish Japanese joint venture would not just say something like that as a joke.

Well, not really surprising, but considering how fitting it was that HTC made the Nexus One (they also made the G1 Android phone after all), seems like everything went well for HTC.

Google is doing okay. While the Nexus One itself is not quite performing so well in terms of sales, it does have a pretty good reputation as a smart phone. HTC on the other hand got plenty of rave reviews and exposure for being the main tie up at the major device launch.

In retrospect, it is Sony Ericsson that totally missed out.

According to Bert Nordberg, CEO of Sony Ericsson, they refused to make the Google phone since they wanted to produce their own branded devices and will play the role of a subcontractor (what? Are they not a joint venture in the first place? Why use the purists’ approach?).

Looking back at 2009, most of the news related to Sony Ericsson spoke of offices and facilities closing down, phones being pulled out of shelves and upcoming devices getting constantly delayed. When the year ended, the company was losing money.

SE could have certainly used the positive feedback they would have gotten for supporting Google.

In any case, Bert’s interview regarding this topic appeared in a Swedish newspaper. Anyone reading this article will be raising eyebrows at the decision made by the company. 2010 will show if SE made the right decision or not.

Get to read more about Bert Nordberg and SE at Engadget.

Filed under: Sony Ericsson