Sony Mobile Communications

Sony Mobile Communications AB

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecoms equipment
Founded	October 1, 1987[1] (as Sony Ericsson) February 16, 2012 (as Sony Mobile)
Headquarters	Minato, Tokyo, Japan,[2] Sweden
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Kunimasa Suzuki (President and CEO) Bob Ishida (EVP and Deputy CEO)
Products	Smartphones Mobile phones Mobile music devices Wireless systems Wireless voice devices
Employees	7,500 (as of December 2010)[3]
Parent	Sony Corporation
Website	www.sonymobile.com

Sony Mobile Communications AB (formerly Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB) is a multinational mobile phone manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was founded on October 1, 1987 as a joint venture between Sony and the Swedish telecommunications equipment company Ericsson, under the name Sony Ericsson.^[4] Sony acquired Ericsson's share in the venture on February 16, 2012.^[5]

Sony Mobile Communications has research and development facilities in Tokyo, Japan; Chennai, India; Lund, Sweden; Beijing, China and Silicon Valley, United States.^[6] Sony Mobile is the fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer by market share in the fourth quarter of 2012.^[7] The current flagship device of Sony is the Sony Xperia Z1, a smartphone with water and dust resistance and a 20-megapixel camera.

History

Origins

In the United States, Ericsson partnered with General Electric in the early nineties as Ericsson Mobile Communications (ECS), 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. On March 17, 2000,^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

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. Ericsson contributed a majority of the Ericsson Mobile Communications company, excluding a minor part spun off as Ericsson Mobile Platforms. Sony contributed its entire handset division. The company was to have an initial workforce of 3,500 employees.

2001 to 2010

Sony Ericsson logo

Sony Ericsson's strategy was to release new models capable of digital photography as well as other multimedia capabilities such as downloading and viewing video clips and personal information management capabilities. To this end, it released several new models which had built-in digital camera and colour screen which were novelties at that time. The joint venture, however, continued to make bigger losses in spite of booming sales.

In 2005 Sony Ericsson introduced the K750i with a 2 megapixel camera, as well as its platform mate, the W800i, the first of the Walkman phones capable of 30 hours of music playback, and two low-end phones.

In 2007 the company's first 5-Megapixel camera phone, the Sony Ericsson K850i, was announced followed in 2008 by the Sony Ericsson C905, the world's first 8-Megapixel phone.^{[citation needed]} At Mobile World Congress 2009, Sony Ericsson unveiled the first 12-Megapixel phone, named Satio.

In 2005 Sony Ericsson agreed to become the global title sponsor for the WTA Tour in a deal worth $88 million US dollars over 6 years. The women's pro tennis circuit was renamed the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Just over a month later on June 7, it announced sponsorship of West Indian batsmen Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan. In October 2005, Sony Ericsson presented the first mobile phone based on UIQ 3, the P990.

On January 2, 1999, Sony Ericsson announced in Stockholm that it would have some of its mobile phones made in India, and that its two outsourcing partners, Flextronics and Foxconn would manufacture ten million mobile phones per year by 2009. CEO Miles Flint announced at a press conference held with India's communications minister Dayanidhi Maran in Chennai that India was one of the fastest growing markets in the world and a priority market for Sony Ericsson with 105 million users of GSM mobile telephones.

Annual net income or loss 2003 to 2009

Sony Ericsson struggled following the launch of Apple's iPhone in the third quarter of 2007. Its handset shipments fell from a high of 30.8m in Q4 1999 to only 8.1m in Q1 2003.^[11] The company had made net losses in six of the 15 quarters and seen its cash reserves shrink from €2.2bn to €599m, after taking a €375m cash injection from its joint owners. The eclipse of the Symbian operating system, initially by Apple's iPhone, and then by Google's Android, has affected Sony Ericsson's position in the market.

Sony Ericsson was overtaken by its South Korean rival LG Electronics in Q1 2008. Sony Ericsson's company's profits fell significantly by 43% to €133 million (approx. US$180 million), sales falling by 8% and market share falling from 9.4% to 7.9%, despite favourable conditions that the handset market was expected to grow by 10% in 2008. Sony Ericsson announced another profit warning in June 2008^[12] and saw net profit crash by 97% in Q2 2008, announcing that it would cut 2,000 jobs, leading to wide fear that Sony Ericsson is on the verge of decline along with its struggling rival, Motorola.^[13] In Q3 the profits were much on the same level, however November and December saw increased profits along with new models being released such as the C905 being one of the top sellers across the United Kingdom.

In June 2008, Sony Ericsson had about 8,200 employees, it then launched a cost-cutting program and by the end of 2009 it had slashed its global workforce by around 5,000 people. It planned to cut another 1,500 jobs in 2002. It has also closed R&D centres in Chadwick House, Birchwood (Warrington) in the UK; Miami, Seattle, San Diego and RTP (Raleigh, NC) in the USA; The Chennai Unit (Tamil Nadu) in India; Hässleholm and Kista in Sweden and operations in the Netherlands. The UIQ centres in London and Budapest were also closed, UIQ was a joint venture with Motorola which began life in the 1990s.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]}

2010 to present

On October 27, 2011, Sony announced that it would acquire Ericsson's stake in Sony Ericsson for €1.05 billion ($1.47 billion), making the mobile handset business a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. The transaction's completion was expected to occur in January 2012.^[25][26][27] At their keynote at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony's Kaz Hirai announced that Sony Ericsson would be known simply as Sony Mobile Communications pending completion of the transaction. On January 26, 2012, the European Union approved the buyout.^[28] On February 16, 2012, Sony announced it had completed the full acquisition of Sony Ericsson.^[5] On January 7, 2013, Sony Mobile completed moving its headquarters from Lund, Sweden to Tokyo, Japan in order to fully integrate with its parent company.^[29] The first Sony-only mobile was the Sony Xperia S along with launch of Sony Xperia U and Sony Xperia P at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. Sony Mobile Communications has decided to phase out all the feature (non-smart) phones by September 2012 and focus on smartphones segment.^[30] On July 2, 2012, Sony announced it is buying Gaikai, a cloud service to support its expansion into the cloud gaming realm. Sony is paying a reported $380 million to acquire Gaikai.^[31] The Sony Ericsson Liquid Energy Logo which was the hallmark logo used on Sony Mobile products up until the 2012 series of phones was replaced with a new signature power button design as the new design signature hallmark to easily identify a Sony phone which debuted with the 2013 series of Xperia mobile phones. At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show the Sony Xperia Z and Sony Xperia ZL were announced.

Operations

In 2009, Sony Ericsson announced that it was moving its North American headquarters from Research Triangle Park, North Carolina to Atlanta. The headquarters move was part of a plan to reduce its workforce, then 10,000 employees, by 20%. As of that year, Sony Ericsson had 425 employees in Research Triangle Park; the staff had been reduced by hundreds due to layoffs.^[32] Stacy Doster, a spokesperson of Sony Ericsson, said that the proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's flights to Latin America and the operations of AT&T Mobility influenced the decision to move the USA headquarters. Sony Ericsson will close the Research Triangle site.^[32][33] On August 23, 2012, Sony announced heavy cuts of their work force in Lund, Sweden.

Products

A Sony Ericsson W200i mobile phone

Current products

Sony Mobile's current products include:

• XPERIA range - launched with the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 at the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which carried the Windows Mobile operating system with a Sony Ericsson's panel interface. The Xperia X10 model features the Android operating system. Additionally, Yahoo! News reported that Sony would align with Google to run Android on its upcoming smartphone.^[34][35]

Former products

• BRAVIA range - launched 2007 in Japan. To date, five BRAVIA branded phones have been produced: Sony Ericsson (FOMA SO903iTV, FOMA SO906i, U1, S004, and S005^[36]).
• The Walkman-branded W series music phones, launched in 2005. The Sony Ericsson W-series music phones were notable for being the first music-centric series mobile phones. A notable feature was a 'W' button, which when pressed opens the media centre.
• The Cyber-shot-branded line of phones, launched in 2006 in newer models of the K series phones. This range of phones are focused on the quality of the camera included with the phone. Cyber-shot phones always include a flash, some with a xenon flash, and also include auto-focus cameras. Sony Ericsson kicked off its global marketing campaign for Cyber-shot phone with the launch of 'Never Miss a Shot'. In February 2008, the series was expanded with the announcement of C702, C902 and C905 phones.
• The UIQ smartphone range of mobiles, introduced with the P series in 2003 with the introduction of P800. They are notable for their touchscreens, QWERTY keypads (on most models), and use of the UIQ interface platform for Symbian OS. The range was subsequently expanded with the M series and G series.
• The GreenHeart range - first introduced in 2009 with the Sony Ericsson J105i Naite and C901 GreenHeart. Focused on an environmentally friendly theme, it mainly used eco-friendly materials and featured eco-apps.

Sales and market share

Sony Ericsson posted its first profit in the second half of 2003. Since then, the sales figures from phones have been:

Annual shipments of units 2003 to 2009

Marketing campaigns

Social media

During 2010, in 11 months, Sony Ericsson's Facebook fan count rose from 300,000 to 4 million to become the 40th-largest brand on the social networking site. The company aims to capitalise on this fanbase and increase engagement by profiling these fans and matching them to dedicated content. It will also analyse the top commenters on the Facebook page and ensure engagement through special content and offering these fans the chance to visit Sony Ericsson offices.^[43]

Sports sponsorship

As of 2011, Sony Ericsson sponsors the UEFA Champions League and the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Miami. According to the head of global marketing partnerships,^[44] Stephan Croix, “our sport sponsorships allow us to promote our phones in a subtle and authentic way to our fanbase. Our promise to fans is to enrich their experience during the game but also before and after.”

See also

• MyPhoneExplorer – full featured Sony Ericsson manager software for Microsoft Windows, able to backup, synch and editing almost all data on the phone via Bluetooth, infrared or USB
• Media Go – music, photo, video, and game management software made for Sony Ericsson phones
• Disc2Phone – music management software made for Sony Ericsson phones
• SonicStage – music management software made for Japan market phones
• PlayNow – global content distribution portal
• List of Sony products

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sony Ericsson.

• Sony Mobile Communications
• Sony Mobile Blog
• Sony Xperia SP and Xperia L

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