Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI Corp. and mobile-phone giant Sony Ericsson have announced plan to sell a Walkman mobile phone that can store over 500 songs. The first of many such phones, the W42S will be for the Japanese market only, with similar offerings for Europe, Asia and North America coming later.

The new Walkman cell phone is due to be marketed in Japan in June, and is expected to be able to play music for some 30 hours without needing recharging. The W42S will have 1GB of internal memory, which can also be expanded upon using a Memory Stick Duo card. A result of partnership between KDDI and Sony Ericsson, the phone is compatible with KDDI's Au CDMA2000 mobile network, and supports MP3, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+ music format files. The retail price of the phone is expected to be about $180.

The phone is the company's 11th to carry the Walkman name and will go on sale in late June, just under a year after the first Walkman phone was launched in Europe in August 2005. The news follows last week's announcement of two models for the rest of the world, which will be available from the third quarter of this year.