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Electronista: Sony Ericsson this morning claimed a minor industry first through the MH907. The in-ear buds have built-in capacitive motion sensing that automatically start or stop audio on a phone based on their contact with the wearer’s ears.

Putting both earbuds in place will either start music or answer an incoming call; taking one earbud out will pause music or end a call. Accordingly, the set has an in-line mic to take calls but doesn’t need a remote for control.

The earbuds are limited to Sony Ericsson’s proprietary phone port but should come in either black or yellow colors. They should be made available later this week in Europe first for €39.

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Engadget: It’s out with the old, in with the new over at Sony Ericsson as it tries to revamp both its image and its lineup in the face of stiff competition, weak financials, and an unfocused platform strategy.

President Hideki Komiyama intends to retire at the end of the year, and stepping up to fill his shoes will be the current head of Ericsson Silicon Valley, Bert Nordberg.

To get the dude up to speed, he’ll become co-president as of September 1 and take over sole control of the operation on October 15. Speaking of October 15, that’s also the date that Sir Howard Stringer — yes, the one and only chairman and CEO of Sony — will take over the chairmanship of Sony Ericsson’s executive board from outgoing Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg.

Whether this signals a power shift in the joint venture from Ericsson to Sony is unclear, but they’ve specifically mentioned in a press conference today to announce the moves that they need to “address [their] smartphone weakness” — and yes, we’d agree. Do exactly that, Bert Nordberg.

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CNet: The newest version of Sony’s PlayStation Portable console — the PSP Go (pictured) — isn’t even on sale yet, but the company is already looking ahead to what’s next, according to Reuters. The electronics giant is looking into making a combination gadget that would meld its PSP gaming system with the mobile phones made by Sony Ericsson, its joint venture with Swedish electronics maker Ericsson, according to Reuters, which cited the Nikkei business daily.

Sony reportedly plans to put together a team as early as July to begin development of the new device. Sony no doubt has its eye on Apple’s iPhone, which is already popular with consumers and is now getting more serious attention from developers as a platform for their games. This isn’t the first time rumours of this nature have circulated, of course.

In 2007, Sony raised eyebrows with a patent filing that appeared to show a PSP-like device with phone capabilities. Previous moves in this direction have included the recently announced Sony Ericsson Aino, a phone that can stream pictures and video from a PlayStation 3, and BT’s effort to bring voice and video chat to the PSP. In the meantime, Sony continues to work on its portable gaming device. The PSP Go, which was unveiled at the E3 gaming conference, is smaller than its predecessors and has a slide-up screen. It will go on sale in the UK on 2 October for £250 (€294).

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Guardian: Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson and electronics giant Toshiba announced total job cuts of nearly 6,000 in more signs that the world recession may be getting worse.

It also emerged that Cathay Pacific Airways, Asia’s third-largest carrier, has asked its entire 17,000 staff to take unpaid leave.

Sony Ericsson, which has its headquarters in London, has already laid off 2,000 workers and said today it would slash another 2,000 jobs around the world. The latest cost-cutting drive comes as the company posted a €293m (£258m) net loss for the first three months of the year, and vowed to return to profitability “as quickly as possible”.

Toshiba, which has suffered a huge drop in demand for its consumer electronics, said it would lay off 3,900 contract workers in Japan by March 2010. The losses come on top of 4,500 contract worker cuts announced in January. It warned that its loss for the year that ended in March would be bigger than forecast.

Toshiba now puts the loss at ¥350bn (£2.36bn), up sharply from the ¥280bn previously estimated and its biggest loss ever. It would also mark Toshiba’s first annual net loss in seven years. But offering a glimmer of hope, the company also said prices of flash memory chips were now stabilising, helping its performance at the operating level.

Cathay Pacific said today that all 17,000 employees at all levels of the company were being asked to take unpaid leave ranging from one to four weeks in the next 12 months. The move comes a month after Hong Kong’s flagship airline recorded its first annual loss since the Asian crisis in 1998. Tony Tyler, the chief executive, said the company had “no option” but to take measures that will help maintain long-term sustainability.

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Electronista: German magazine Manager claimed on Wednesday that Ericsson plans to back out of phone maker Sony Ericsson.

The Swedish half of the partnership has reportedly brought up a split with Sony, which has “expressed interest” in talking to banks for help buying out Ericsson’s 50 percent stake and leaving Sony in full control of the company.

The likelihood of a deal going through is called into question by Sony’s health in the current economic crisis. It recently posted its first loss in 14 years and so might not have the resources or justification needed to make such a larger purchase.

Questions have also been raised regarding the likely success of a Sony-only phone company. Why Ericsson might look to back out of Sony Ericsson isn’t mentioned, though it and Sony have frequently been rumored as fighting each other over the future direction of phones.

Sony has allegedly refused to compromise on developing a PlayStation phone and has increasingly taken control of its phones’ design directions, such as with the XPERIA X1

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AVReview: Sony Ericsson has launched its AB900 Bluetooth car speakerphone that may look like a simple handsfree mobile add-on, but is actually a speaker that plays and streams music over a car’s audio system.

It features RDS, which Sony Ericsson claims means no complex installation, easy frequency searching and quick access to your phone numbers should you need to make a call.

Streaming music wirelessly via Bluetooth, the AB900 is ideal for anyone who spends plenty of time in the car but is sick of listening to local FM radio stations.

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Register Hardware: Stereo systems are fine if you’re a sound-quality perfectionist. But if ease of use, connectivity and style are your primary concerns then Sony Ericsson’s latest wireless speaker will catch your eye.

The 2.1-channel MBS-900 can connect to your mobile phone over Bluetooth A2DP, letting you wirelessly stream music from your handset to the speaker. If you’re still tied down by cables then the MBS-900 also has a 3.5in line-in connection too.

SE claimed that the MBS-900 will provide “crystal-clear sound” through its stereo speakers and sub-woofer. An integrated FM receiver will also let you pick up the delights of disk jockeys leaving rude voicemail messages.

The monochrome OLED display lets you see track names and vital audio statistics, such as bass and treble levels.

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ITProPortal: The W705 Walkman phone is Sony Ericsson’s latest attempt to install the Walkman range as a serious contender to the crown of coolest multimedia smartphone around.

This slider smartphone comes with a 2.4-inch LCD monitor capable of displaying 320×240 pixels and supports only M2 memory cards (although apparently there’s a 4GB card bundled with it).

It supports both Wi-Fi and HSUPA Turbo 3G and as you would expect from Sony, comes with a pair of “premium headphones” that sports a proprietary jack.

Good thing there’s a 3.2 MP camera with a LED flash and integrated GPS. You will also find other standard Walkman features like TrackID, Shake Control and SensMe.

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NaviGadget: Wayfinder announced that it extended its agreement with Sony Ericsson which will enable them to preload navigation applications on a range of current and future Sony Ericsson devices.

Wayfinder Navigator application is trying to bring mobile phone-based navigation to the mass market and it allows consumers to download Tele Atlas-based maps of more than 70 countries and avoid expensive data roaming costs, even when traveling abroad.

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Techradar.com: Sony Ericsson is rumoured to be working on the next evolution in the cameraphone market… a 12MP snapper, no less.

Seemingly unable to stop playing with the Cyber-shot brand, SE is developing the phone, codenamed the Kotaku and apparently sporting a Tube-a-like touchscreen interface, according to Mobile Mentalism.

It will also run the S60 interface, and Symbian OS version 9.4, so keeping true to its Open Symbian Foundation love all the way through.

However, there will still be no 3.5mm headphone jack, or a mini-USB socket for easy connectivity… though we assume A2DP Bluetooth support will be packed in the chassis for wireless listening.

Oh, and apparently the new handset will do away with the Memory Stick format developed by Sony.

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Phonemag.com: The new Sony Ericsson HCB-108 speakerphone provides up to 25 hours of talk time.

It also has noise and echo reduction. 

You can also get up to a month of battery life on standby mode.

These are some seriously impressive figures and though it has yet to be tested hands on, we’re betting it’ll come pretty close.

The HCB-108 will be available in either black or silver and should hit retailers sometime in the fourth quarter.

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T3: A new report from ABI Research claims that the touch screen industry in the mobile device market will be worth $5 billion (3.5 billion euro) in 2009.

ABI says that shipments of touch screen devices in 2007 increased by 91% over 2006. The report figures in touch screens used in mobile phones, MIDs, UMPCs and navigation devices.

ABI says that Samsung and Motorola command the bulk of the touch screen mobile phone market with 33% and 30% of the market respectively. This is based on strong presence in Asian markets where 80% of the world’s touch screen phones are produced. Sony Ericsson has 24% of the touch screen market.

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