Sony Mobile Communications

Sony Mobile Communications AB (formerly known as Sony Ericsson Communications AB) is a multinational mobile phone manufacturing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was founded on October 1, 2001 as a joint venture between Sony and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson.Sony acquired Ericsson's share in the venture on February 16th, 2012.

Sony Mobile Communications has research and development facilities in Lund, Sweden; Tokyo, Japan; Beijing, China and Silicon Valley, United States. In 2009, it was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world (after Nokia, Samsung and LG).By 2010, its market share had fallen to sixth place

Sony Mobile Communications AB Sony logo.svg

Type    Aktiebolag

Industry             Telecommunications

Founded           October 1, 2001(as Sony Ericsson)

February 16, 2012 (as Sony Mobile)

Headquarters               Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom

Area served    Worldwide

Key people      Howard Stringer (Chairman)

Bert Nordberg (President)

Bob Ishida (Deputy CEO, EVP)

Kristian Tear (EVP)

William A Glaser Jr (CFO)

Products           Mobile phones

Mobile music devices

Wireless systems

Wireless voice devices

Hi-Tech accessories

Wireless data devices

Revenue           decrease €5.212 billion (2011)

Operating income     decrease € −206 million (2011)

Profit   decrease € −247 million (2011)

Employees      7,500 (as of December 2010)

Parent                Sony Corporation

Website             www.sonymobile.com

History

Origins

In the United States, Ericsson partnered with General Electric in the early nineties, primarily to establish a US presence and brand recognition.

Ericsson had decided to obtain chips for its phones from a single source—a Philips facility in New Mexico. In March 2000, a fire at the Philips factory contaminated the sterile facility. Philips assured Ericsson and Nokia (their other major customer) that production would be delayed for no more than a week. When it became clear that production would actually be compromised for months, Ericsson was faced with a serious shortage. Nokia had already begun to obtain parts from alternative sources, but Ericsson's position was much worse as production of current models and the launch of new ones was held up.

Ericsson, which had been in the mobile phone market for decades, and was the world's third largest cellular telephone handset maker, was struggling with huge losses. This was mainly due to this fire and its inability to produce cheaper phones like Nokia. To curtail the losses, it considered outsourcing production to Asian companies that could produce the handsets for lower costs.[citation needed]

Speculation began about a possible sale by Ericsson of its mobile phone division, but the company's president said it had no plans to do so. "Mobile phones are really a core business for Ericsson. We wouldn't be as successful (in networks) if we didn't have phones", he said.[citation needed]

Sony was a marginal player in the worldwide mobile phone market with a share of less than 1 percent in 2000. By August 2001, the two companies had finalised the terms of the merger announced in April. The company was to have an initial workforce of 3,500 employees.