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.
