Sony Buys Out Ericsson's Stake in Joint Partnership

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 27, 2011 02:29PM
Author: bp9801

For the past ten years, Sony Ericsson has been making mobile phones as a mainly a creator of feature phones. Recently, the market has shifted towards smartphones, and Sony Ericsson has been one of the last major mobile companies to make that switch. Today, Sony has announced it has bought out Ericsson's stake in the joint partnership in order to better focus on smartphones. Sony plans to better integrate the smartphone aspect into the tablet, laptop, and gaming divisions, meaning a more unified approach can be applied to all. Ericsson will receive €1.05 billion in cash in exchange for its 50% stake of the company, and will work with Sony to set up a wireless connectivity initiative to "develop the market's adoption of connectivity across multiple platforms." The buyout will not finalize until January 2012, but basically means Sony will now focus more heavily on its Xperia line of Android smartphones.