Sony is to take full ownership of its Sony Ericsson joint venture with Ericsson in a move designed to bolster its position in the mobile handset market.
Sony paying its former partner €1.05bn in cash for its share.
It is likely that the Sony Ericsson brand name will disappear in the move, which comes almost exactly 10 years after the 50:50 joint venture was created. Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, said a task force had been set up to decide how to brand the mobile business.
Under Sony’s sole ownership, Sony Ericsson will move away from making older-style feature phones and concentrate on smart phones.
As well as full control of the mobile phone subsidiary, Sony will get full ownership of five key patent families, helping it navigate the patent disputes that dominate the handset industry.
Alternative options.
CEO Sir Howard Stringer :
When asked about acquiring the webOS platform, Stringer was more direct, stating that although he wouldn't rule it out, it's 'not something we're thinking about'.
"We never say never to anything; we have to be adaptable in this industry, but obviously we're great Google customers."
It seems highly likely Sony will stay a loyal customer of Google's Android OS for the foreseeable future, as it's this platform that has helped the company finally return to profitability in the last year.
Sony is hoping that the smartphone acquisition will position it as a major player in the connected space, with interoperability between its tablets, TVs, consoles and now smartphones.
The deal should be completed by early 2012, meaning Sony-branded smartphones could start popping up at Mobile World Congress in February.
Source: TechRadar and the Financial Times
Source: TechRadar and the Financial Times
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