Sony buys out Ericsson's half of phone business

@syafiqjabar - I am just saying does the world need another cell phone? Thousands of devices that basically do the same thing.

@Justforfun44 This did not create another new phone manufacturer, it simply puts the former Sony Erricson completely under Sony. Sony is also still one of the most recognisable and popular consumer electronic brands in the world.

I hope the Playstation brand is strong enough to make their phone division successful.

Sony is officially the Wal-Mart of electronics now, not only did they got a movie studio, a game division, a device format, a computer hardware, TV maker, but now they owned a phone manufacturer too making them a competitor to Nokia, Samsung, and Apple as well.

They want take over the company because to add "phone app" for Vita without adding Ericsson name to that device .

so now the phone name is sony sony

To me it looks like another money losing purchase for Sony. Yeah I guess the world needs another phone manufacturer. Sony doesn't seem to know how to make money in its core business. In fact they don't seem to know what their core business is anymore. Walkman gets replaced by iPod. Sony used to be a leader in TV, but now has too many competitors and they are thinking of just licensing the Sony name for HDTV. Playstation falls from its leadership position. Maybe they should just fire Howard Stringer and start fresh.

Great maybe now I can get the phones now through my carrier!

Glad to see a broader focus on cross platform capabilities.

I'm excited to see more Sony tablets and phones coming to the market place!

Games on phones = no depth, shallow experience. Addictive, maybe, but not truly a 'video game' in any regard. Long live game consoles.

Ericsson was my first mobile :) a year later they merged with Sony and it was the start of my long relationship with SE phones. kinda sad they split up.

@istreakforfood You can add horrible to that. 10 years ago, Sony's mobiles, where a complete mess. Joining with ericsson was a salvation for their mobile communications department. Sony had the money to invest, ercsson had the know-how and market implementation, so it was a ggod deal for both back then. But Now Sony decided to buy out Ericssons' half, for an obscene amount of money ( i.e. metalkitten- that's why they sold) believing they can now walk on their own, without Ericsson's help, and with it, reenforce the conectivity with the playstation products. we'll see how that goes. I suspect it will go wrong. I can almost bet that the mobile phones will end up disapearing from Sony's products, and in it's wake, you will have portable consoles, where you will also be able to make phone calls, (a la Skype)

I don't know how good their phones are these days, but 10 years ago their phones were horrible. Ever since then I tried to stay away from their phones.

@TigusVidiks Actually, here in Singapore, Sony Ericsson was, at one point, one of the dominating mobile phone brands, with their Walkman and Cybershot phones. I have always found Sony to have fascinating (if not always immediately useful) technology and features. Just that they tended to make glaring and quite possibly suicidal omissions and oversights. If this deal indeed allows them to catch up and push their cutting edge technology into their phones, then great. After all, they can draw from their wide range of expertise in sound processing, imaging, displays, gaming... And I always thought their phones at least LOOKED cool ;)

@torbonator So I think that if they base their comercial strategy on the playstation conectivity and games implementation, they will actually have less costumers than what they had while joined with Ericsson. ( Ericsson was one of the fathers of mobile phones development, in the erarly stages, it was them that propeled the industry, and created a market, Nokia showed up soon after, and then all the others. But Ericsson was the first brand known exclusively by it's Mobile Phones).

@torbonator Yes, I have no doubt that Sony has gained expertise and learned troughout these 10 years. I just don't see people getting in a store, and wanting to buy a Sony mobile phone. iphone, Nokia, Samsung are all reliable and trusted, with a very good implementation in the market. Yes, it's true that the latest generations that grew playing on Sony's consoles will conect to the brand, but then again, those alone are not enough to propel a mobile phone business. That's is a market nich. Mobile phones everyone in the world uses them, from 5 to 95 years old. Sometimes people have more than 1, even. And gamers are a small part of that universe of consumers. And finally, who will buy a mobile phone, having the Gaming as a important issue when deciding what to buy? Even those kids or younger people who gre with Sony, won't do it mostly. They have consoles at home, and if they want a hand-held, they buy a Vita, or PSP Go, or a 3DS. Xperia Play showed that there isn't a strong market for that. I mean, it came out too late, developers and phone buiders have already a pretty developed platform and technical components for apps, games and products for mobile, that are not compatible with Sony's.This means that to catch up , Somy will have to make a major gigamtiv investment in all fronts (ublicity, development, implementation) just to be at the same level, if they want to do it alone and excliusivelyfor their platforms.

Nothing to it, SONY is a diversified company. Games are a just a part of their lineup.

RIP Ericsson..you made awesome phones for a while

@dxdevilex0 Yeah but the pspGo would of done a hell of a lot better if it had been a phone as well (well it could have done worse lol)

I know folks who have this so I hope it works out well for all parties involved.

i dont like that...why would ericsson do that? bah i hope they keep doing simple good cellphones still - cause i for one dont need/want my cell for anything else then the usual stuff and i always bought ericsson also as a swed i have to ask ericsson: why do that???

Expect more products like the PSP Go people.

I love the Xperia Play....but I love it for all the wrong reasons muahahahaha. You can map those buttons for something useful...like (&%&$^&%$. People that know...are the people that know ;).

spent close to how much Nintendo lost.

i think this process will make a big difference in the future. go $ony! ^_^

The end of corporate collaboration starts with a thought for massive instantaneous monetary gain on one side and a thought for hoarding of potential revenue on the other. Joint ventures like this one could have been so beautiful. They could have contributed to the breaking up of the perception of corporations as selfish, greedy monsters who want everything for themselves.

The Xperia Play is basically a normal cell phone with a built-in controller for some games when you get bored. I mean it isnt gonna divert all the attention away from the Vita.........

@ blackace, psvita is to big for your pocket, a mobile device that doesn't fit in your pocket is useless in my books. But I would not but a underpowered sony phone when I can get more power for less $$$ elsewhere. Plus why do you need a portable gaming console when you have a phone? last time it was nintendo that destroyed the psp this time it will be smart phones. you can do a lot with touch screens and acelerometers

Funny how the xperia play is made for gaming yet highend phones from samsung htc and lg have a lot more grunt. Would be great if the playstation games were just released on the android market but sony would never do that.

Wow, that is huge! We all knew this was coming though.

@TigusVidiks compare the phones of 10 year ago to the phones now, I think the technology at the moment falls more under more sony's expertise and 10 years of experience with Ericsson is sizeable amount, and the playstation brand will have to sell this to the consumer but not yet with the vita coming out. It will be when the first proper handheld gaming platform and phone come together as of now they are still separate devices. Also looking at the teenage generation coming through having grown up with Sony as an everyday brand I think that will help as I personally only know of Ericsson because of Sony-Ericsson.

I wouldn't waste my time with these phones or tablets. I will eventually get a IPad 2 for 1/2 the price at the end of the year. I'd rather play 3G & 4G games on that then Sony's phone. With the PSVita coming out, does anyone really care about these phones? Would you rather play on the phone or on the PSVita? Seriously...

This is a 2 edged sword. Sure Sony will get the control of the phone giant brand. But how will consumers respond? Until now, it was the Ericsson in Sony-Ericsson brand that would appeal, since Ericsson had a long tradition and expertise in mobile phone devices. Sony, on the other hand, did not. And the initial reason why they joined forces with Ericsson, was exactly because they failed to appeal to the consumer of Mobile Devices. 10 years ago, the Sony mobile phones, were lousy, and ridlled with problems. Maybe Sony believes that they lerned and gained expertise during these 10 years of joined venture. And it's possible they did. I just have some doubts regarding how the end consumer will see it, and if they will trust Sony, considering all the alternatives in the market. It's REALLY the Playstation brand strong enough to ddrive their phone business from here forward?