LIVE FROM DROIDCON LONDON: Handset vendor Sony Ericsson set a goal of becoming the “benchmark” for Android devices, promising developers a device platform that will be designed from the ground up for Android-based apps. In a presentation to the Android community at Droidcon in London last week, Sony Ericsson’s Karl-Johan Dahlström (pictured) – the exec in charge of the Sony Ericsson Developer Program – claimed the vendor was “one of the main contributors to the Android open source project,” and called for Android “designers” to help set the roadmap for its Xperia range of Android-based smartphones.

Dahlström offered an insight into Sony Ericsson’s handset design strategy – “not shared before outside of Sony Ericsson” – based on combining Android with technology developed by Sony, the handset vendor’s parent firm. “We have really leveraged Sony in the past, bringing Walkman [music] and Cybershot [photography] to our devices – and even Bravia [TV] technology for products in the Japanese market,” he said. “Now we need to bring together Google [Android] and Sony.” He made no reference, however, to recent reports that Sony Ericsson was poised to launch a handset based on Sony’s PlayStation gaming console, which is rumoured to include a custom Sony apps store for games.

Dahlström pitched to developers that Sony Ericsson was playing a key role in bringing third-party apps to market, including promoting apps via a dedicated Facebook group and by educating retail staff to demonstrate apps on its phones at point-of-sale. “Our job is to help developers to make money, and we do this by giving you the tools, specifications and visibility,” he told delegates. Dahlström was later joined on stage by Erik Hellman, one of the lead software architects for Android development at Sony Ericsson, who provided a technical insight into how the Android platform is implemented from a handset vendor’s perspective.

The handset vendor also used the event to announce a new apps competition being run by its other parent company, Ericsson. The ‘Ericsson Applications Awards 2011’ aims to award the best Android apps relating to Ericsson’s ‘Connected Things’ initiative and offers a total prize fund of EUR60,000. More details here.