Sony drops Ericsson from phone business, plans deeper integration with PlayStation network

Written By Jordan Kahn

It had already been reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier in October that Sony was looking to purchase Ericsson’s 50% share of their joint-venture phone business known as Sony Ericsson. Today, Sony made things official by issuing a press release outlining the $1.5 billion (1.05 billion euros) deal that will presumably see Sony dropping “Ericsson” from branding on future smartphones.

Sony will also gain ownership of “five essential patent families” related to smartphones. Their plan is to better integrate smartphones into their long line of other products from Smart TVs and tablets, to PCs, and possibly PlayStation.

While mentioning the company’s “four-screen strategy” Sony chief Sir Howard Stringer hints at plans to integrate content from the PlayStation and Sony Entertainment networks into the rest of their products, and in light of the announcement, that would include smartphones as well.

Even with the Xperia Play and an obvious push from Sony to grab a piece of the Apple dominated mobile market, lack of integration among Sony branded phones and their huge content library on PSN has been a noticeable letdown. There is also talk that the company plans to have a more consistent UI across all devices, perhaps hinting at a shift to a UI resembling that on PS3 and Sony smart TVs for future smartphones.

It’s also important to note that the simple lack of the “Ericsson” branding on future devices could be a huge win for Sony. Even while at one point capturing a huge portion of the mobile phone market, the new era of smartphones and incredible brand loyalty to companies like Apple and Samsung have created hard times for Sony Ericsson. Perhaps dropping the Ericsson and branding future devices as simply “Sony” smartphones will allow them to better take advantage of the brand recognition their other products have been able to retain?

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