It's out with the old, in with the new over at Sony Ericsson as it tries to revamp both its image and its lineup in the face of stiff competition,
weak financials, and an unfocused platform strategy. President Hideki Komiyama (pictured left) intends to retire at the end of the year, and stepping up to fill his shoes will be the current head of Ericsson Silicon Valley, Bert Nordberg (right). To get the dude up to speed, he'll become co-president as of September 1 and take over sole control of the operation on October 15. Speaking of October 15, that's also the date that Sir Howard Stringer -- yes, the
one and only chairman and CEO of Sony -- will take over the chairmanship of Sony Ericsson's executive board from
outgoing Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg. Whether this signals a power shift in the joint venture from Ericsson to Sony is unclear, but they've specifically mentioned in a press conference today to announce the moves that they need to "address [their] smartphone weakness" -- and yes, we'd agree. Do
exactly that, Bert Nordberg.
posted Aug 17th 2009 3:42AM
PSP Phone?
Yep, once sony buy all Ericsson shares of the company, PSPphone is bound to be the next iphone but Sony do not want to share all the money they are going to get from this , after all PSP belong to sony only not Sony-Ericsson why would they share their own success with another company.
Well Sony DID say that the ONLY way a PSPhone would happen would be if it was SOLELY branded by Sony....So if Sony picks up more shares of the company forcing the Ericsson name out....then yea it damn sure has a better chance of coming to fruition...
And i present to you: The ugliest people on Earth......
Please ... no more diamond shaped phones for the rich and stupid.
ericsson is starting to fade into the Sony blackhole..
Whoa, talk about mugshots. Isn't the guy on the right happy he's now the new President?
Swedes and Japanese tend to not give much facial expressions.
That's why they stay looking so young.
If you smile or frown too much, that causes wrinkles.
Well this could be some good news. If Sony is able to take more control over Ericsson, and perhaps one day absorb them, not only could they attempt to revive their ailing mobile phone business, but they would also have an outlet upon which they could sell them: Sprint. Ericsson now maintains and runs Sprint''s network. Sure, their deal allows Sprint to choose technologies and devices, and not Ericsson, but I'm sure with Sony at the helm, they could easily design custom devices fit to run on their CDMA network. And, if done properly, Sony could create a true iPhone competitor in the form of a PSP/phone hybrid with more powerful gaming capabilities. The PSN is already in place for such a move. All it would take is some cooperation between the companies and a reasonable price. Now THAT would give Apple (and possibly Microsoft should they continue to merge their Xbox and Zune lines) a run for their money. The infrastructure is all there, and I also mean that quite literally; I think it's safe to say Sprint's network would be able to withstand more users than AT&T's at this point. After all, Ericsson is a major telecom hardware vendor. It would seem that they would be able to run Sprint's network well. I could see that being flaunted as major positive against the Apple monolith. We all know Sprint could use more reasons to retain customers and finances.
This is all pure speculation on my part, but it makes a lot of sense, no? Sony could change the mobile landscape by offering a different kind of competition, perhaps instigating a gaming revolution much like how Apple popularized touchscreens for the mass majority of the public. This could go over quite well or not happen at all. I for one, encourage fierce competition. We all benefit directly from it. We're on the verge of entering a new digital age where any singular device can accomplish just about anything. Me, I'm hoping for small all-in-one smartphones with holoprojectors. That could do away with the laptop if you could easily enlarge a phone's screen and keyboard, but now I'm drifting on the realm of sci-fi. Or not. Anyway, may Sony make a great comeback. Let's see some PlayStation expansion into the mobile phone business.
-MD33
How does this give Sony any control over Ericsson? It's not like Howard Stringer got on the Ericsson board.
Rubbish. Ericsson runs and maintains the network for lots of GSM providers around the world, and CDMA is dying. IF Sony creates a mobile phone/PSP hybrid (which is possible, even though the N-Gage has failed several times over), it certainly won't be for CDMA and/or Sprint. It'll probably be on LTE and/or UMTS/GSM.
The Sony/Ericsson market is far larger than only the US.
Ummmm yea dude....Sprints CDMA network is dying everywhere else but in the US.....it will HAVE to be GSM in order for it to be useful on a global level....
I said that in the future, they could always form a true merger if possible. Since I live in the US, I mentioned Sprint since Ericsson is operating their network. It is true that CDMA is dying all around the globe, but here it is still advancing forward to a point where it is still useful and relevant to the consumer. Verizon is migrating to LTE with their CDMA backbone while Sprint is moving to WiMax, both of which look extremely promising. SE would still have to produce GSM products and variants to go mainstream, of course, but all three of these companies that I am talking about could closer-knit in the US, offering great service together in one of the most important markets in the world. Again, I was just speculating on what could or couldn't happen. SE almost exclusively produces GSM products for consumers, last time I checked. Regardless, by the time they get anything out the door, we should have 4G wireless networks opening up all over, rendering current 3G networks less necessary.
Will it happen? Probably not. I'm merely speaking based on wishful thinking and business strategy. Still, it would be nice to see what they could do.
Gundams + Vikings = Win
How come nobody in real life is named Zoidberg? That's just disappointing.
Im pretty sure there's someone out there named Bender Bending Rordiguez.
Don't give them any ideas ...
This was the first Nordberg that came to mind when I read the story:
http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/25722/oj.jpg
And maybe he *could* help Sony-Ericsson...
What they dont say in this article is that Hideki Komiyama was last seen boarding a kamikaze plane.
Is that Nordberg's mugshot?
My 3 step plan for Sony Ericsson to regain market share.
1. Sony needs to realize that its name no longer commands a premium among the masses.
Sony's products are no longer worth a 10-20% premium to the average consumer.
2. Release the X3 by the end the year for less than $500 unlocked.
Preferably with quad band GSM and tri-band HSPA.
The X1 was a really nice phone. It was not however, an $800 phone, sales reflected this.
3. Have a desirable handset ready for the WinMo 7 launch in spring 2010, not 6 months later.
Price it less than $600.
(Keep fingers crossed that MS doesn't fuck up WinMo 7)
The old ceo is focus at too much at the asian market and forget about the rest of the world, their phone is too heavy only base on music function, almost no smartphone. It order for sony phone to sucess in today very tought market for phone, they must make something people want like pspphone.
Is that a sniper lasersight on that other guys head? He propably died just seconds after that photo was taken.