Rumor Mill: AT&T nearing Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 launch

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) is going to soon launch Sony Ericsson's flagship Android-based smartphone, the Xperia X10, according to the blog Boy Genius Report. 

sony ericsson xperia x10The blog said that AT&T has pushed the device through its technical acceptance process, and that it will be available "in the coming weeks." No price or specific release date was mentioned. The report comes on the heels of an earlier one from April that pegged the Xperia X10 to launch with AT&T sometime this summer.

The phone's UX user interface features two signature applications: Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape allows users to browse all of their communications with a contact--via photos, emails, texts, Facebook and Twitter--in one view. Mediscape allows users to manage various types of content from various sources. The Xperia X10 runs a 1 GHz Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon processor, has an 8.1-megapixel camera, a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen, WiFi, GPS, 3.5 mm headset jack and comes with an 8 GB microSD card. Importantly, the X10 runs on the older Android 1.6 operating system, but is expected to be upgraded to 2.1 sometime in the third quarter.

A Sony Ericsson spokeswoman declined to comment, and an AT&T spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It's unclear how much promotion the X10 will get from AT&T; the carrier just announced its support for Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) new BlackBerry, the Torch, and, according to Forbes, AT&T views the Torch as its most significant non-iPhone launch this year. Nonetheless, the launch would be key to Sony Ericsson, which has an anemic presence in the U.S. market.

During the second quarter, Sony Ericsson reported a net profit of $15.5 million, a reversal of the $275.4 million net loss it posted a year earlier. It was lower though than the company's first quarter 2010 net profit of $28.4 million. Sony Ericsson shipped 11 million phones in the second quarter, with an average selling price of $206.93. A year ago, Sony Ericsson shipped 13.8 million devices at an average price of $157. The company's sales in the quarter rose 4.3 percent to $2.27 billion.

For more:
- see this Boy Genius Report post
- see this Forbes article

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