Sony Mobile Communications
Sony Mobile Communications AB is a 100 percent subsidiary of the company Sony. The company was up to 15 February 2012, a joint venture by Sony and Ericsson emerged as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB. 2001, the joint venture had been established as Swedish limited liability company with headquarters in London. Sony Mobile Communications is currently at number ten of the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones.
History
Ericsson has worked as a defense and telecommunications company and was in the early 1990s, one of the largest manufacturers of mobile phones. But the division mobile phones increasingly showed weaknesses in the new millennium. The reasons for this poor business marketing and delivery problems and a sluggish management were called.
In addition, the leadership of Ericsson had missed market trends and therefore could not meet the needs of customers. Although the technical level of Ericsson devices was always very high, but the angular design prevented the commercial success outside the business customer area and urged the company to the edge of the market. Last Ericsson had each of its mobile phones with almost 60 euros to subsidize, which led to high losses and almost to bankruptcy.
Ericsson and Sony Corporation announced on 24 April 2001 announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The aim was to establish a joint venture, in which the mobile phone divisions of both companies are merged world. The new company with the name of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications should benefit from Ericsson's expertise in the field of telecommunications and of Sony's experience in the field of consumer electronics. The existing product lines under the brand name of Sony and Ericsson were maintained until the new brand could introduce their own products.
On August 28, 2001, Ericsson and Sony agreed to merge their mobile phone businesses, and signed an agreement, the two companies involved in equal parts to Sony Ericsson. Sony introduced in the course of negotiations, the condition that Sony Ericsson should enter 2004 profit from the end at the latest, otherwise you would get out of the joint venture - this condition could be met in the fourth quarter of 2003, when Sony Ericsson is the first time could produce a positive balance. On 11 September 2001, the joint venture was officially approved by the management of Ericsson and Sony.
On 1 October 2001, the joint venture Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications took after the issuance of permits by competition authorities on its business. According to press release, the goal was " the number one mobile multimedia products [ to ] be in the next five years." At the same time the new logo of the brand Sony Ericsson has been presented. The research and development of mobile phones in Dornach as well as in North Carolina was abandoned at the end of 2003 due to financial difficulties in the wake of the joint venture. At the Dornach site about 300 employees were laid off. In 2004, Sony Ericsson has left the Dornach site.
On 18 March 2009 Ericsson expressed interest in a withdrawal from the joint venture. Sony declared himself ready, the joint venture to take over completely and buy out Ericsson, but this did not perform due to the recent drop in profits with no investment aid of a bank. However, this was two days later, denied on 20 March 2009, Ericsson a company spokesman.
With the proliferation of smartphones, the market share of Sony Ericsson sank. This in 2006 was 9% and decreased to 2011 to 1.7% from.
On 27 October 2011 Sony and Ericsson announced that Sony now but the company will completely take over and pay for 1.05 billion euros. The acquisition should be completed in February 2012, as was promised. Part of the package are also license agreements and some relevant patent groups. The company planned to produce only smartphones from 2012. On February 15, 2012 Sony completed the full acquisition. On 22 February 2012, the company logo was replaced by the Sony and adjusted the website on the design of Sony. However, even renamed Sony Mobile Communications AB stood out. On 29 February 2012, the former Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications in Sony Mobile Communications has been renamed. The corporate headquarters were relocated in the wake of the takeover by Lund. As has been announced on April 4, 2012, 2012 Kunimasa Suzuki will represent the Sony Mobile Communications AB CEO and President from 16 May. The current CEO Bert Nordberg will assume the position of chairman of Sony Mobile Communications from that date.
Research and development to be operated at locations in Sweden, Japan, the People's Republic of China, the United States and Britain.
Mobile phones
The main division of Sony Ericsson was the production of mobile phones. For devices with expandable memory are employed in contrast to competitors a Sony 's proprietary Memory Stick format. By now offer models also has a memory card slot for the microSD widely used format such as the K850 and the smartphone Xperia X10.
Naming
The model names are structured according to a uniform scheme in most cases. It referred
- A leading capital letter standing the series with a basic device property
- Usually followed by a three digit number. In previous models, two-digit numbers occur in individual cases, four digit. Some cell phones carry a one-digit number, such as the Sony Ericsson P1i.
- A final lowercase letter, the marketing or operational area
Sony Ericsson has also developed series phone under the name of Sony 's brands. So 2005 was presented with the W800, the first Walkman phone. His focus is on the music playback. Also in 2005, the K750, was placed at the first time, special emphasis on the function and operation of the camera appeared. Thanks a separate release button the phone when taking pictures could be kept similar to full-fledged digital cameras comfortably across. In addition, the K750 had a comfortable camera menu with typical camera settings such as white balance and photo effects. The successor model K800, published in 2006 underlined the camera orientation with the name Cyber- shot phone, and it is built in a real xenon flash in the K- series flagships from this model. 2008 was presented with the XPERIA X1 is the first model in the new premium brand XPERIA referring specifically to the growing demand for mobile communications over the Internet and by mobile multimedia experiences.
In February 2012, Sony Mobile Communications presented at the Mobile World Congress, the first own series since the separation of Ericsson before, the Xperia NXT series. As early in January 2012 Sony Mobile Communications at CES 2012 without notice of the series belonging Sony's flagship Xperia S before, which is the first smartphone from Sony since the separation from Ericsson.
In March 2012, Sony Mobile Communications introduced the smartphone Sony Xperia sola, which can also be operated without direct operation of the screen, for example, even with gloves.
At IFA 2012 Sony introduced the new global flagship Xperia T together with the Xperia V and Xperia J before.
Tablets
At IFA 2012 on August 29, 2012 Sony announced that from this day tablets are sold under the brand name Sony Mobile. The first and also announced at IFA tablet is the Xperia Tablet S.
Sustainability
The GreenHeart portfolio includes environmental innovations that contribute to the overall environmental impact of mobile phones. The first phones of the GreenHeart series are the C901GreenHeart ™ and Naite. The printed manual has been replaced by an integrated electronic manual. Recycled plastics and an energy-efficient display help that the CO emissions from mobile phones will be reduced by 15 percent. The packaging is omitted plastic; the battery is wrapped in paper and the cell phone in a cloth bag. In the Guide to Greener Electronics Greenpeace Sony Mobile Communications 4.1 is replaced by 10 points.