ATLANTA- Cingular Wireless L.L.C. has quietly begun selling Sony Ericsson’s WalkMan phone, offering music lovers an alternative to Motorola Inc.’s Rokr.
The carrier introduced the Sony Ericsson W600i, a flip phone that features a WalkMan Media Player with 256 MB of memory and a 1.3-megapixel camera. The quad-band handset is Bluetooth-compatible and sells for $199 after a mail-in rebate.
Cingular is the first U.S. operator to sell the handset, which launched in Europe several weeks ago.
The new, media-centric phone competes with Motorola’s Rokr E1, the so-called iTunes phone that has received tepid reviews since its September launch. The candybar-style Rokr, which is currently exclusive through Cingular, sells for $150 and allows users to store up to 100 songs with an included memory card.
Meanwhile, Nokia Corp. introduced a Wi-Fi-capable version of its 9300. The 9300i smart phone offers wireless local area network connectivity as well as a full keyboard, 65,536-color screen, e-mail support and 80 megabytes of memory.
The Symbian-based handset uses 802.11g technology and is slated for release in the first quarter of next year.
Finally, regional operator U.S. Cellular Corp. announced plans to offer Research In Motion Ltd.’s ubiquitous BlackBerry mobile e-mail device. The operator said it will offer the BlackBerry 7250 Wireless Handheld, which supports both the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet.
The carrier will sell BlackBerry service for $40 a month with a voice plan or $45 for Web and e-mail services only. U.S. Cellular didn’t disclose the price of the handset.
