Rumors of Sony Ericsson split heat up again
By Donald Melanson 
posted Mar 18th 2009 1:57PM
posted Mar 18th 2009 1:57PM
Sony Ericsson execs have been denying reports of a rift between the Sony and Ericsson factions of the company as little as a month ago, but it looks like the rumor mill is starting up yet again, and a report on German website Manager-Magazin.de now suggests that a deal could be closer to happening than ever (though still not all that close to actually happening). Apparently, Ericsson is looking to sell off its share in the joint venture, and Sony has reportedly expressed an interest in taking sole control of the company, but that hinges on it negotiating a deal with the banks. That, of course, could be a tad tricky at the moment, but it's looking increasingly like a 100% Sony-owned company is the only way that we'll ever see the mythical PSP phone, so who knows what sort of magic that proposition might work.
[Via SlashGear, thanks Chris]
[Via SlashGear, thanks Chris]
ahhh!!! it's sam & diane all over again!
canon should buy a phone company.
a great camera from canon with a decent phone is a great package to miss.
uh....the thing is canon would probably be discouraged to do so. The general tab is if you can't break into Japan, you probably won't break into China and definitely not in the world stage. I'm surprised Mitsubishi didn't make a Nikon phone since they OWN Nikon.
Back on topic :P. Sharp strangely has a large reputation as the camera phone genius of Japan (903SH 3.2MP CCD + 2x Optical Zoom or SH-03A 8MP CCD 29mm) and SE acutally has a presence in the cameraphone too (so905iCS 5.1MP CMOS + 3x Optical Zoom) . I'm surprised Panasonic is not playing in the camera game with some sort of lumix phone.
Bottom line, If Canon can't win in Japan (Which they won't) they probably will fail to take on the rest of the world
Does this mean more fast port / memory stick and less 3.5mm jack / micro-usb / micro SD?
I hope this means a PSP-Phone, or a XPERIA-Like PSP :D
Future is looking good if this split is true
Ericsson have always been in an abusive one way relationship with Sony. It's about time they kicked him out :-)
Ericsson sucks anyways, look at the successful phone features
1) Walkman
2) Cybershot
... there both from the Sony side. Apart from 100% Sony ownership (which would be good) possibly Toshiba could be interested (remember the TG01) and perhaps Panasonic? Either way Ericsson is a leech and Sony phones co. is going to get much better.
What kind of ignorant out-dated comment is this. Most Sony devices now have SD and USB, including the previous PS3 models, and even the SD-only Sony E-book readers that didn't even have memorysticks, as well as dozens of other devices. For what its worth, unlike half a decade a ago, Sony is a lot more open standards now, then say Apple. The PS3 allows install of Linux and you can even use the MS' 360 camera stead of the Sony one.
Panasonic already does phones~In fact they are doing well in Japan and look to expand to China and out internationally by themselves.Its just this economic time might stunt things a little. I just can't see the massive overlap of Bravia-Viera and Lumix-Cyber-shot
I somehow think a PSP phone would be a hard sell Ngage anyone. Handhelds are generally purchased for kids attaching a phone would make the price much higher than things like the PSP and DS are selling at right now. Parents would be less likely plunk down the same price as a full console for the cost of a handheld.
Except the majority of gamers are 18-35 these days. This ain't the 80s/90s, kids that grew up with their Super Nintendo, TurboGrafxs 16 and Genesis have grown up.
Yes, they certainly have grown up...and demand that they be able to kill dragons and battle ogres while dressed in lederhosen...on their phones now. Adulthood rules!
is this convenient for Sony or Ericsson?
I alwasys thought Ericsson was the "smarts" of the operation and Sony the "muscle".
Ericsson is indeed the smarts and Sony offers the looks and the brand names.
Sony offer the looks and brand names and Ericsson is indeed the smarts.
Sony were making perfectly good phones before joining up with Ericsson, and the SE phones were good because of the Cybershot and Walkman tie-ins. I'd say Sony were most of the smarts and all the muscle, but it's a criminal act to be decent and fair to Sony on Johnny Interweb, isn't it.......
Anyone thinking that Sony's phones were better than Ericsson's before they hooked up is obviously on crack. Ericsson made beautiful (at the time) quality phones waaay before Sony got involved.
Or maybe they can go the Engadget and Apple way; set their relationship status to "complicated".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrFdOz1Mj8Q
Damn, when I read the title of the article I got a little excited. I always loved Ericsson phones, but horrible stuff such as proprietary headphone jacks/adapters, ridiculously overpriced proprietary flash media and every other bad thing about SE phones has come from Sony. So of course I got excited, I thought every consumer would profit it Sony just left. But then I read the article... I don't,.. I just don't care about Sony Ericsson. Not anymore.
I'll just devote my mobile love to Nokia or HTC.
If ericsson get rid of sony, maybe ill start buy there phones again.
Ericsson won't do phones on their own if SE splits...
Both Sony and Ericsson made better phones before they got in bed together. i loved the T29 and the Z5 the best phones i have ever owned.
Agreed. I honestly don't see the joint venture going anywhere.
Engadget your late, this was brought to our attention by Berka
I knew it.
It had to happen.
SE can't continue to churn out a failure after another one.
The Idou seems a very promising device, but so did the X1 experia when it was first presented, and look what a disaster it turned out to be.
And of course if Sony has some money to invest in R&D it prefers to employ it in sections of its multifangled business where it does'nt have to share the profits with the sweds.
More than a PSP phone (bleah!) I would welcome a Vaio smartphone.
I have no doubt that Sony would be much better off on its own, and probably Ericsson too; I remember there was a time when their phones were actually desirable and popular too.
SE phones are very popular outside of the US. But given that America is the centre of the universe, who cares, right?
@KillgoreTrout
And so was the American dollar... next!
@ Jay and @ (the aptly named) TheStupidOne
I don't knoe much about what phones are or are'nt popular in the US of A , I am a scandinavian (a dane to be precise) and here Ericsson phones used to be popular before the mismatch with Sony.
Now however they can't give them away for free even here where the Ericsson name used to carry a certain cachet.
All models of SE can be had for 1DKK ( 10 cents of a USD) on a cheap 6 months contract which includes illimited data and voice. The X1 Experia (their flagship) can be had for 1500DKK (about 200USD) with the same 6 month contract and yet they find no takers apart for a few bargain hunters.
The Samsung Omnia and the HTC touch HD (my two phones) cost more than 300 USD on the same 6 months contract and even in this recession you have to wait 2 month to get an Omnia (the touch HD is sold by many carriers so there's no waiting)
Even if you're not a market analyst it must mean something, or what?
What means even more (to me at least) is that my 6 months contracts on the Omnia and the Touch HD are just expired, the phones are now unloked and Im looking around for a replacement: Im not a fanboy so I consider buying The new Samsung OmniaHD or the Show, the new HTC Whitestone, the Toshiba TG01, the Nokia N97, the LG Arena, maybe a Nuviphone or (if it materialize) even Archos/Texas Instruments new smartphone/PMP; but for sure nor I nor any of the the people I know would consider buying a SE.
Good. Sony Ericcsons blow.
I would prefer that Ericsson bought out poor Sony's shares, most of the technical know-how is from them and branding like Walkman come from Sony. Then they could both make their own phones.
All but one of the phones I have owned has come from them, so I don't know what they could do if they split. Why bother mentioning splitting if neither can afford to buy the other out right now. Bring out phones like the Idou and others e.g. with Android and a new Experia and make some money before deciding on something like this.
Agreed.
I think most of you are forgetting that before Sony and Ericsson went out and created this little venture, Sony made relatively craptastic cell phones and Ericsson made excellent & revolutionary devices (I still have my T39. Sony seemingly couldn't give away their own phones (at least is North America) and needed Ericsson to get back into the market. Take a look at Sony's offerings before the joint venture and you'll see that they weren't even a player in this segment:
http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?sQuickSearch=yes&sName=sony
and the thing is a lot of the folk commenting have something positive to say about Sony phones. The CMDJ7 and J5 phones were revolutionary for thier time, the fact that the J7 had a speakerphone and polyphonic ringtones was unheard of at that time. Before the two merged, I was still using the T39 and T68 from Ericsson, before SE ruined the T68 by announcing the T68i.
Except there was nothing craptastic about Z series. You clearly don't know what you are talking about.
I still have the Z1... and in '98 it was THE sexiest gadget you could get. Ericsson had nothing similar at the time.
Whatever theos...you go on thinkin' I don't know what I'm talking about if it makes you feel better.
I guess you never heard of the Ericsson G series devices. They certainly sold more Ericsson phones in the US than Sony.
I know what would mend their relationship: rename the merger to "Ericsson Sony".
Good, I'm sick of their shit products. Their phones last 6 months if you're lucky.
If you tilt your head to the left side a bit, you can see that the logo is broken in a way that looks like a messed up Pacman is about to eat the Sony part of the logo first.
And in regard to the "their phones last 6 months if your lucky" comment, I have a W810 and it has lasted a full 2 years already. I don't know what you are doing to the phone, but there must be something wrong with how you are using it. Or maybe you must have got one of those "slider phones" that look decent but cannot hold up to your multiple "opps" scenarios.
I seriously don't understand all the X1 hate, besides the price. If you look up various popular mobile review sites, it's clearly one of the best (if not the best) windows mobile phone(s). I own one and have been very satisfied, especially after installing Touch flow 3D, huzzah!
The answer to your question lies in the first word in the name of that phone:
"Sony"
They kill babies, eat snow leopards and burn down rainforests for fun, you know. Evil, hateful company to a man. They do a great harm and injustice to poor innocent people and should be shut down.
If Sony came up with a cure for cancer and handed it over gratis to the WHO, people all over the internet would still bitch and complain about it. And others will claim they stole it from Apple.
Ericssony. If you split up, split up over a phone call, not over text message.
Regards,
Phone Etiquette Club Member #6
So does the iPhone. But it stills sells by the million to the fashion-conscious iSheep.
Jesus ****ing Christ sort out this comments system. I clicked on "reply" and it posted as a new comment. We have been asking for the to be fixed for two frickin' years and you guys do nothing.