Sony took over Sony Ericsson

Sony sounded out Thursday it had made out its leverage of the Sony Ericsson mobile phone joint venture and became the company into a subsidiary, which it will soon rename “Sony Mobile Communications”.

The fellowship proclaimed in October that it would bear Ericsson €1.05 billion (US$810 million) for its 50 per cent stake in the venture.

The associated stake, which began operations in 2001, assisted turn around Sony’s shinning mobile business and afforded its phones a strong international presence, a rarity for a Japanese handset maker. Sony’s electronics experience with Ericsson’s telecommunications technology. Sony Ericsson, belated to recognize the rise of a new generation of smartphones, was a fiery Android partner with its Xperia line. Sony was able to purchase long-familiar brands in extra product categories, such as Walkman and Cybershot, in its phones. Currently all of Sony’s smartphones run on Google’s Android operating system.

With the sudden rise of smartphones, Sony said it wants to better integrate the Xperia handsets with its other product lines, as rivals like Apple and Samsung do now, the aim of accelerating convergence between Sony’s lineup of network enabled consumer electronics products, including smart phones, tablets, TVs and PCs, Blu-ray players, laptops and (fingers crossed) PlayStation video game consoles.

The newly named Sony Mobile will be headquartered in London, as Sony Ericsson was before it, and Bert Nordberg is staying on as president and CEO. Nordberg has been president of Sony Ericsson since 2004 and chief executive since 2009.

The new subsidiary, which has about 8,000 employees, will be headquartered in London.