Sony puts 3G phones on hold

NEWS Sony will concentrate on making handsets for GPRS networks, shunning 3G phones until the networks are ready for them. Sony president and chief operating officer Kunitake Ando reportedly said: "2.5G is our main target right now. 3G will be a little bit delayed, but I don't know by how much." Earlier this month Sony and Ericsson combined their mobile phone development and manufacturing divisions into a joint venture. They will release handsets for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 3G service in the first half of 2002, he said. Sony's results for the six months ended September 30 showed a JPY388m (£2m) group operating loss, down from a JPY83.72bn (£477m) profit from the same period last year. The mobile phone business was very badly hit, with JPY45bn (£256m) lost through the recall of faulty handsets, and parts the company bought but will not use following the joint venture agreement with Ericsson.