In this competitive world, hiding one’s light under the bushel will only guarantee one thing - no one will take any notice whatsoever.

So, Sony Ericsson has rightly decided to go tell the world how wonderful their products are - they are not just mobile phones, but life-enhancing must-have devices. Leading up to their fifth birthday, they introduced the Bluetooth™ Watch MBW-100 on 28th September.

A sleek and stylish timepiece that will retail at around €300 when it is available Q4 this year, this watch is designed to enable a user to control their Sony Ericsson phone without having to take it out of their pocket. You can see who is calling you via the OLED beneath the watch face. The same display will enable you to control music play as well as alert you to an incoming text message. And if you do not wish to take a call, you can stop the infernal ring tone or vibrate by simply pressing a button on the watch. A must-have, undoubtedly, for gadget aficionados.

Then on 2nd October, just a day after their fifth birthday, Sony Ericsson announced that they will be opening a new store at the end of the following month in a part of London that had been associated with the hip and the well-heeled, Kensington. Although a couple of decades ago, this area lost its leadership in the fashion stakes, it has now regained much of its coolness with the young but alas, it has not recaptured the style for which it used to be famous. Back in the 1960s and 70s, this part of London was the apex of fashion, home to swinging royalty in the form of Princess Margaret and her set of fun-loving friends as well as the Biba store, the incarnation of everything that was avant garde in style and hipness. As that generation aged and moved to the country with their growing families and Thatcherite England became more materialistic rather than experience-driven, the style represented by the stores on High Street Kensington gave way to the ostentation of the West End. Bond Street to be precise.

Now, Sony Ericsson has opened a store on the High Street, a stone throw away from Kensington Palace, latterly home to the stylish and much mourned Princess Diana who combined grace and beauty with hipness. Can it be that Sony Ericsson has picked this location with some deliberation? There is no doubt that its inauguration later this month will be greeted with more than a little excitement and fanfare. Much like the Apple Store on Regent Street, I predict that both geeks and non-geeks will be flocking to the store to get a taste of stylish handsets, innovative mobile features and generally seeing it as a great way of spending a Saturday afternoon or a couple of hours of chilling after work during the week. Or even a good way of spending an hour or so on a Friday evening meeting up with one’s friends before adjourning to drinks and dinner. Just hope that London Transport does not spoil things by closing High Street Kensington station to refurbish it for the 2012 Olympics!

As if that is not enough, parent company Sony’s investment in the latest Bond movie ‘Casino Royale’ means an ideal platform for product placement for Sony Ericsson. As Howard Stringer, the Sony Pictures Chairman told Fortune magazine, Bond "will carry so many Sony products that he won't be able to stand up." Of course, if the picture were to bomb, the association would have a negative impact on Sony Ericsson’s products but that is hardly likely to happen. Already very positive reviews for the movie has been received so Sony Ericsson’s ambition to be one of the top three handset vendors looks to be well on its way.