The W960 Touch screen Walkman phone will start to ship from November 2007, Sony Ericsson announced today. The W960, a potent combination of slim UMTS and Wi-Fi enabled phone with high performance media player, will be available in selected markets across the globe in time for the Christmas season.

The W960 was unveiled in June 2007 and marks a next generation of Walkman phones. With room for up to 8,000 songs* and finger-touch navigation around playlists on the large touch screen, the days of taking an MP3 player and a phone with you are definitely over. The 2.6” display also serves as an excellent viewfinder for a 3.2 megapixel camera and as a widescreen for watching video in TV quality.

“The W960 has been generating a lot of consumer excitement since the day it was announced,” says Ben Padley, Head of Music Product Group at Sony Ericsson. “As the next instalment in our hugely popular Walkman® phone series, we are confident that this music mix of 3G phone, Walkman® player and quality camera will prove to be a hit, and a great complement to the rest of the range.”

Sony Ericsson’s Music Desk Stand MDS-65 will also hit stores at around the same time. The perfect musical complement to the W960 and many other Sony Ericsson phones, the MDS-65 lets you charge the phone while experiencing high-fidelity sound on its four full-range neodymium-magnet speakers. And when you’re on the move, the MDS-65 runs on batteries so you can use it anywhere you like – from barbecue to beach. With its sleek, futuristic silver finish, it can’t help but draw admiring glances.

The Sony Ericsson W960 Walkman® phone is UMTS 2100-GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 and will be available in Vinyl Black from November 2007.