After months of rumors of a probable buyout by Sony of Ericsson’s share in the partnership, now it has been officially confirmed that Sony is going to completely take over the mobile division.
Sony Corp. is to pay €1.05bn in cash to take over Ericsson’s 50% share in the joint venture which amounts to roughly $1.47bn at current market prices. Sony also plans to acquire five wireless technology ‘patent families’ from the Swedish firm.
The move seems logical enough considering the fact that Ericsson was adding little value to the phones manufactured at Sony Ericcson, with more and more phones being sold on Sony branding like the Walkman and the Cybershot series and Bravia engine equipped smartphones more recently.
Sony intends to execute a “four screen strategy” and integrate its television, mobiles, laptops and tablets and package content to go along with it using their PlayStation Network, the Sony Entertainment Network and might include Sony pictures as well.
Sony has also promised to manufacture only smartphones after taking complete control of the firm. With Sony Ericsson’s 80% marketshare coming from Android, we can certainly expect Sony to stay dedicated to Android. Sony Ericsson employs 7000 employees and we see no reason to see any cuts there.
With Nokia’s market share falling drastically, there is an opportunity for other market players to grab a share of the same and Sony Corp. certainly seems to be vying for it.
