Follow Us:
12

Sony purchases Ericsson’s share of Sony Ericsson for €1.5 billion, also grabs “five essential” patents

By on October 27, 2011 at 3:12am in Mobile News


What was only a rumour a few weeks ago has come true. The joint venture between Ericsson and Sony Corporation – Sony Ericcson – has officially ended (pending regulatory approvals). Sony has confirmed today that they will acquire Ericsson’s 50% stake in the company for EUR 1.05 billion in cash ($1,47 billion CDN) to “rapidly integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices”. The deal has already been approved by both companies is expected to close January 2012. In addition, Sony also gets “five essential patent families relating to wireless handset technology” and rights to a “broad intellectual property (IP) cross-licensing agreement covering all products and services”. There’s no word on the branding of future smartphone, but you can expect the Xperia lineup to continue.

Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s Chairman, CEO and President said “This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want. With a vibrant smartphone business and by gaining access to important strategic IP, notably a broad cross-license agreement, our four- screen strategy is in place. We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment.”

Source: MarketWire

Related posts:

  1. WSJ: Sony wants full control of Sony Ericsson, deal possibly worth $1.7 billion
  2. Nortel sells patents for $4.5 billion to Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony
  3. Sony Ericsson has “shipped 22 million Xperia smartphones to date”
  4. Sony Ericsson announces Android 2.3 “Live with Walkman” phone

Discussion

12 comments for “Sony purchases Ericsson’s share of Sony Ericsson for €1.5 billion, also grabs “five essential” patents”

  1. Sony playing catch up with Samsung :)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 2

    Posted by mark | October 27, 2011, 3:25 am
    Reply to this comment

    • This is making me want to hold out on getting Galaxy Nexus, and hold my breath for the first Sony Android phone …. but that probably won’t be till 2013! :(

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

      Posted by bummy | October 27, 2011, 12:46 pm

  2. Hope this means I can use my arc as a ps3/tv remote soon. I’d buy a Sony tv, laptop & stereo if I could use them nicely with my phone. Maybe I can already?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2

    Posted by Plec | October 27, 2011, 3:26 am
    Reply to this comment

  3. Next Xperia (fall 2012) flagship phone:

    - PS Vita’s quad-core processor/GPU
    - 12.1 MP 1080P HD @ 60 FPS Cyber-shot rear camera, 8.1 MP 1080P HD @ 30 FPS front facing camera
    - Built-in Walkman player/brand (excellent sound quality, compete against HTC’s BEATS partnership?)
    - New 720P 3D HD (Sony is betting big on 3D) glasses free BRAVIA (TruBlack) display to compete with Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus displays (Apple’s Retina’s displays too?)
    - PlayStation (PS1, PSN) brand integrated into Sony’s new custom Android OS overlay (Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0)
    - Built in 32GB and 64GB flash storage with expandable storage via Sony’s propitiatory Memory Sticks from up to 64GBs extra? (No Sony. Please stick to the standard Micro SD cards if expandable memory is an option. Don’t go changing what is not broken)
    - Wireless connection to BRAVIA, Vaio, Sony Surround Sound System, PlayStation and other Sony brands (Similar to Apple’s AirPlay and iCloud)
    - Promise of future Android OS updates! (They have improved a lot since 2010, one of Google’s close partners. Have unlocked bootloader, etc, hack friendly)
    - Slim, sexy, premium built (price as well, it’s Sony, come’on!) construction (top quality no less!)

    To name a few, feel free to add anything! Sony is a company with a wealth of rich, high quality resources and assets.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 2

    Posted by Xperia X10 | October 27, 2011, 3:56 am
    Reply to this comment

  4. I think the Sony Ericsson logo looks better on cell phones than with just Sony logo on it

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Big 3 | October 27, 2011, 3:56 am
    Reply to this comment

  5. Now the question is, without Ericsson’s technical expertise in telecommunication, could Sony survive the onslaught of Apple, Microsoft (eventually) and other Android handset makers?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1

    Posted by deltatux | October 27, 2011, 4:04 am
    Reply to this comment

  6. Bold move this

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0

    Posted by saffant | October 27, 2011, 4:38 am
    Reply to this comment

  7. Ericsson made some ugly a$$ phones back in the day. If they went back into the market, I would stay faaaar away!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2

    Posted by MARS | October 27, 2011, 8:11 am
    Reply to this comment

  8. Headline is wrong – they got 5 *families* of patents, not just 5 patents.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Graham J | October 27, 2011, 11:27 am
    Reply to this comment

  9. Good. Now purchase WebOS and make a killer device please. Not another android phone. Plenty of those.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Mark | October 27, 2011, 11:27 am
    Reply to this comment

  10. Sony invented the Walkman, and I believe also the first portable mp3 players. They should patent portable music players and screw over Apple muahahaha

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by captain | October 27, 2011, 12:03 pm
    Reply to this comment

  11. Title says “€1.5 billion”.

    Article says “EUR 1.05 billion in cash ($1,47 billion CDN)”

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by bummy | October 27, 2011, 12:43 pm
    Reply to this comment

Post a comment