Sony is back as a mobile brand; Ericsson bows out, and Sony Ericsson is dead

Many years ago, both Ericsson and Sony existed as two separate mobile brands. Ericsson produced some of the finest mobile phones back then, and Sony had some unique devices going for them as well.

A merger happened in 2001, and Sony Ericsson was born. However, the joint venture was not the runaway success that many fans desired it to be. It wasn’t exactly a failure either.

Anyway, as of today, Sony Ericsson is no more, as Sony has bought out Ericsson from the joint venture. Sony is back!

I feel sad to see Ericsson go. I remember my Ericsson R320 and the R380s (the very first Symbian smartphone) with nostalgia. The R380s ran Symbian EPOC32 OS and had both a regular keypad and full touchscreen that required a stylus (supplied). Talk of Transformer smartphones back then.

I purchased mine in December 2002 and it was my very first smartphone.

Ericsson is being paid EUR 1.05 billion by Sony for their 50% share in the joint venture. This acquisition gives Sony more leverage to “rapidly integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices – including tablets, televisions and personal computers – for the benefit of consumers and the growth of its business”.

Let’s see how things play out. As always, the mobile landscape keeps changing – and often so fast.

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