Sony smartphones to lose Ericsson connection in surprise buyout

Pioneering Japanese electronics company Sony has announced it is to acquire full control of smartphone maker Sony Ericsson in a new deal worth £964-million to the Swedish handset producer Ericsson. Sony will buy 50 per cent of the business, which in turn will make it the sole owner of the mobile producing venture.

Included in the deal will be a series of patents that are key to the way Sony Ericsson handsets have been produced, while a licensing agreement covers other valuable areas of the smartphone portfolio and associated technology.

Although something of a surprise announcement, the deal has been mooted by many technology experts in recent months, with Sony aiming to streamline its activities in the areas of phones, tablets and gaming hardware.

The Sony Ericsson brand has been doing reasonable business in the competitive smartphone marketplace, having broken even in the third quarter this year. In particular, the Android-running Xperia range of handsets has proved very popular with consumers and now accounts for around 80 per cent of total sales.

This latest development marks the end of a ten-year association between Sony and Ericsson, one that has only recently seen the production of smartphones that have made any sizeable impact in the market.

Now though, with those patents safely in place and the growing dominance of Android powering it’s devices, Sony could be well placed to start making some real waves in the world of smartphone development.