Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a
multinational telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
s company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between
Sony Group Corporation
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
and
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
. It was originally incorporated as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications,
and headquartered in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England, until Sony acquired Ericsson's share in the venture on February 16, 2012.
On April 1, 2021, Sony integrated its electronics businesses including Sony Mobile into one company called Sony Corporation.
Prior to April 1, 2021, Sony Mobile exclusively created
Android-powered smartphones under the
Xperia
Xperia () is the brand name of smartphones and tablets from Sony. The name Xperia is derived from the word "experience", and was first used in the Xperia X1 tagline of "I Xperia the best".
Sony Mobile was previously known globally as Sony E ...
sub-brand name; it also developed
tablet computer
A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...
s (
Sony Tablet
Xperia Tablet (former code names Sony S1 and Sony S2), formerly known as Sony Tablet, is the brand name of a series of tablet computers. The first models originally ran Google's operating system Android 3.1 Honeycomb, but more recent models opera ...
),
smartwatch
A smartwatch is a wearable computer in the form of a watch; modern smartwatches provide a local touchscreen interface for daily use, while an associated smartphone app provides management and telemetry, such as long-term biomonitoring. While ea ...
es (
Sony SmartWatch
The Sony SmartWatch is a line of wearable devices developed and marketed by Sony Mobile from 2012 to 2016 through three generations. They connect to Android smartphones and can display information such as Twitter feeds and SMS messages, among oth ...
) and
fitness tracker
An activity tracker, also known as a fitness tracker, is a device or application for monitoring and tracking Physical fitness, fitness-related metrics such as distance walked or run, calorie consumption, and in some cases heartbeat. It is a type ...
s (Sony SmartBand), alongside accessories and software for the devices.
Sony Mobile had research and development facilities in
Lund, Sweden
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
;
Beijing, China
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
;
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
; and
San Francisco, United States
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of California cities by population, fourt ...
.
At its peak in 2007, Sony Ericsson, Sony Mobile's predecessor, held a 9 percent global mobile phone market share making it the fourth largest vendor at the time. In 2017, Sony Mobile held less than 1% global market share but 4.8% in Europe and 16.3% in Japan.
History
Origins
![Ericsson NH238 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Ericsson_NH238_001.jpg)
Swedish company
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
had been making mobile cell phones since the 1980s, their first very handheld device being the Hotline Pocket introduced in 1987. In the United States, Ericsson partnered with
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
in the early nineties as
Ericsson Mobile Communications
Ericsson Mobile Communications AB was a subsidiary of Ericsson, entirely focused on development of mobile phones (handsets). The major offices were located in Lund, Kumla, Raleigh, North Carolina and Lynchburg, Virginia.
History
Under the command ...
(ECS), primarily to establish a US presence and brand recognition. General Electric eventually left the joint venture.
Ericsson had decided to obtain chips for its phones from a single source—a
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
facility in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
. On March 17, 2000,
a fire at the Philips factory contaminated the sterile facility. Philips assured Ericsson and
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
(their other major customer) that production would be delayed for no more than a week. When it became clear that production would actually be compromised for months, Ericsson was faced with a serious shortage. Nokia had already begun to obtain parts from alternative sources, but Ericsson's position was much worse as production of current models and the launch of new ones was held up.
Ericsson, which had been in the mobile phone market for decades, and was the world's third largest cellular telephone handset maker at the time behind Nokia and
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
, was struggling with huge losses and decreasing market share. This was partly due to this fire as well as its inability to produce cheaper phones or fashionably-designed phones like Nokia managed to do.
Speculation began about a possible sale by Ericsson of its
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
division, but the company's president, Kurt Hellström, said it had no plans to do so. Hellström said, "Mobile phones are really a core business for Ericsson. We wouldn't be as successful (in networks) if we didn't have phones".
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
was a marginal player in the worldwide mobile phone market with a share of less than 1 percent in 2000. By August 2001, the two companies had finalised the terms of the merger announced in April. Ericsson contributed a majority of the
Ericsson Mobile Communications
Ericsson Mobile Communications AB was a subsidiary of Ericsson, entirely focused on development of mobile phones (handsets). The major offices were located in Lund, Kumla, Raleigh, North Carolina and Lynchburg, Virginia.
History
Under the command ...
company, excluding a minor part spun off as
Ericsson Mobile Platforms
Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) was the name of a company within the Ericsson group that supplied ''mobile platforms'', i.e. the technological basis on which a cellular phone product can be built. The main office was in Lund, Sweden.
EMP was one ...
. Sony contributed its entire handset division. The company was to have an initial workforce of 3,500 employees.
2001 to 2010
Sony Ericsson's strategy was to release new models capable of digital photography as well as other multimedia capabilities such as downloading and viewing video clips and personal information management capabilities. To this end, it released several new models which had built-in
digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...
and colour screen which were novelties at that time - examples include the
Sony Ericsson T610
The Sony Ericsson T610, released in 2003, is a mobile phone manufactured by Sony Ericsson. It was one of the first widely available mobile phones to include a built-in digital camera, Bluetooth, color screen, joystick navigation, and was a very ...
, the
P800 UIQ
UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) was a software platform based upon Symbian OS, created by UIQ Technology AB. It is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core operating system, to enable the deve ...
smartphone, and later the
K700 handset. The joint venture continued to make bigger losses in spite of booming sales - however it paid off as Sony Ericsson made its first profit in 2003
and in the following years steadily increased handset sales. The joint venture was regarded to have been a success.
![SE P990i quer Wikipedia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/SE_P990i_quer_Wikipedia.jpg)
In 2005, Sony Ericsson introduced the
K750i with a 2
megapixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
camera, as well as its platform mate, the
W800i
The W800 Walkman, released in 2005 (1 August 2005 in the UK), was the first Sony Ericsson phone to use the Walkman brand. The phone features Bluetooth v1.2 (with full Bluetooth 2.0 compliance), Infrared and USB connectivity.
Description
The W8 ...
, the first of the Walkman phones capable of 30 hours of music playback. Later in October 2005, Sony Ericsson presented the first mobile phone based on
UIQ
UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) was a software platform based upon Symbian OS, created by UIQ Technology AB. It is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core operating system, to enable the deve ...
3, the
P990.
Also in 2005, Sony Ericsson agreed to become the global title sponsor for the
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
in a deal worth $88 million US dollars over 6 years. The women's pro tennis circuit was renamed the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Just over a month later on June 7, it announced sponsorship of
West Indian
A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...
batsmen
Chris Gayle
Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who has been playing international cricket for the West Indies since 1999. A destructive batter, Gayle is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have play ...
and
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Ramnaresh Ronnie Sarwan (born 23 June 1980) is a cricketer of Indo-Guyanese origin who played as a batsman. He is a former member and former captain of the West Indies cricket team, in all formats. Sarwan went on to average over 40 in both the ...
.
In 2007, the company's first 5-Megapixel camera phone, the
Sony Ericsson K850i
The Sony Ericsson K850i is a high-end mobile phone when released in October 2007. It was announced in June 2007 as the flagship product in Sony Ericsson's K ("Kamera") series, with a 5 megapixel CMOS camera sensor. The K850 was the first Sony Erics ...
, was announced followed in 2008 by the
C905
The Sony Ericsson C905 is a high-end mobile phone in Sony's 'C' (Cyber-shot) range, which, along with the low-end 'S' (Snapshot) range cameras, supplants the earlier 'K' range of camera phones. It is the flagship model in Sony Ericsson's range for ...
, the world's first 8.1-Megapixel camera phone. At
Mobile World Congress
MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry.
The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the Fir ...
2009, Sony Ericsson unveiled the first 12-Megapixel camera phone, named
Satio.
On January 2, 2009, Sony Ericsson announced in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
that it would have some of its mobile phones made in India, and that its two outsourcing partners,
Flextronics
Flex Ltd. (previously known as Flextronics International Ltd. or Flextronics) is an American Singaporean-domiciled multinational diversified manufacturing company. It is the third largest global electronics manufacturing services (EMS), origi ...
and
Foxconn
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New T ...
would manufacture ten million mobile phones per year by 2009. CEO
Miles Flint announced at a press conference held with India's communications minister
Dayanidhi Maran
Dayanidhi Murasoli Maran (born 5 December 1966) is an Indian politician and one of the prominent members of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He was elected thrice as a Member of Parliament to Lok Sabha from Chennai Central constituency during ...
in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
that India was one of the fastest growing markets in the world and a priority market for Sony Ericsson with 105 million users of GSM mobile telephones.
![SonyEricsson income2003to2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/SonyEricsson_income2003to2009.png)
Sony Ericsson's handset shipments fell from a high of 30.8m in Q4 1999 to only 8.1m in Q1 2003. The company had made net losses in six of the 15 quarters and seen its cash reserves shrink from €2.2bn to €599m, after taking a €375m cash injection from its joint owners. The eclipse of the
Symbian
Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system
A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typic ...
operating system, initially by Apple's iPhone, and then by
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
's
Android, has affected Sony Ericsson's position in the market. The company also struggled following the launch of
Apple's iPhone in the third quarter of 2007.
![Sony-ericsson idou](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Sony-ericsson_idou.jpg)
Sony Ericsson was overtaken by its South Korean rival
LG Electronics
LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered a ...
in
Q1 2008. Sony Ericsson's company's profits fell significantly by 43% to €133 million (approx. US$180 million), sales falling by 8% and market share falling from 9.4% to 7.9%, despite favourable conditions that the handset market was expected to grow by 10% in 2008. Sony Ericsson announced another profit warning in June 2008 and saw net profit crash by 97% in Q2 2008, announcing that it would cut 2,000 jobs, leading to wide fear that Sony Ericsson was on the verge of decline along with its struggling rival,
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
. In Q3 the profits were much on the same level, however November and December saw increased profits along with new models being released such as the
C905
The Sony Ericsson C905 is a high-end mobile phone in Sony's 'C' (Cyber-shot) range, which, along with the low-end 'S' (Snapshot) range cameras, supplants the earlier 'K' range of camera phones. It is the flagship model in Sony Ericsson's range for ...
being one of the top sellers across the United Kingdom.
In June 2008, Sony Ericsson had about 8,200 employees, it then launched a cost-cutting program and by the end of 2009 it had slashed its global workforce by around 5,000 people. It has also closed R&D centres i
Chadwick House Birchwood
Birchwood is a town in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 (as at the 2001 census). Although physically and administratively part of Warrington, the civil parish council has named itself a town council. Hi ...
(
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
) in the UK; Miami, Seattle, San Diego and
RTP (Raleigh, NC) in the USA;
The Chennai Unit (
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
) in India; Hässleholm and Kista in Sweden and operations in the Netherlands. The
UIQ
UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) was a software platform based upon Symbian OS, created by UIQ Technology AB. It is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core operating system, to enable the deve ...
centres in London and Budapest were also closed,
UIQ
UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) was a software platform based upon Symbian OS, created by UIQ Technology AB. It is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core operating system, to enable the deve ...
was a joint venture with
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
which began life in the 1990s.
[, date=May2019]
2011 to 2020
On October 27, 2011, Sony announced that it would acquire Ericsson's stake in Sony Ericsson for €1.05 billion ($1.47 billion), making the mobile handset business a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. The transaction's completion was expected to occur in January 2012. At their keynote at the
2012 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony's
Kaz Hirai
is a Japanese businessman. He is best known as the former chairman of Sony Corporation, serving from April 2018 to June 2019, as well as president and CEO from April 2012 to April 2018. He also served as a board member of Sony Computer Entertain ...
announced that Sony Ericsson would be known simply as Sony Mobile Communications pending completion of the transaction. On January 26, 2012, the European Union approved the buyout. On February 16, 2012, Sony announced it had completed the full acquisition of Sony Ericsson.
On January 7, 2013, Sony Mobile completed moving its headquarters from
Lund
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
, Sweden to
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, Japan in order to fully integrate with its parent company. The first Sony-only mobile was the
Sony Xperia S
The Sony Xperia S (also known as the Sony Ericsson Xperia NX in Japan) is an Android smartphone from Sony launched at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. It is the first Sony-only branded smartphone after Sony acquired Ericsson's stake in Sony ...
at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. Sony Mobile Communications decided to phase out all the feature (non-smart) phones by September 2012 and focus completely on the smartphones segment.
Sony Mobile was the fourth-largest
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
manufacturer by market share in the fourth quarter of 2012 with 9.8 million units shipped.
On July 2, 2012, Sony announced it was buying Gaikai, a cloud service to support its expansion into the cloud gaming realm. Sony paid a reported $380 million to acquire
Gaikai
is an American company which provides technology for the streaming of high-end video games. Its technology has multiple applications, including in-home streaming over a local wired or wireless network (as in Remote Play between the PlayStation ...
. The Sony Ericsson Liquid Energy Logo, which was the hallmark logo used on Sony Mobile products up until the 2012 series of phones, was replaced with a new power button designed as the new signature hallmark to easily identify a Sony phone and this debuted with the 2013 series of Xperia mobile phones. The last phones to feature the Liquid Energy logo were the
Sony Xperia T
Sony Xperia T (renamed Sony Xperia TL in the United States) is an Android smartphone manufactured by Sony Mobile. Introduced on 29 August 2012, it is Sony Mobile's last device ever introduced to feature the Sony Ericsson liquid energy logo after ...
and
Sony Xperia TX
Sony Xperia TX (also known as Sony LT29i) is an Android high-end smartphone from Sony Mobile Communications introduced on 29 August 2012, the Xperia TX is a version of the Sony Xperia GX SO-04D which was launched in May 2012 in Japan. It is Sony' ...
, and the first phones without featuring it were the
Sony Xperia J and
Sony Xperia V
The Sony Xperia V is a smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Sony Mobile. Presented initially on 29 August 2012 in Berlin, the Xperia V belongs to Sony's handset line up of the second half of 2012, which includes the flagship Xperia ...
. Both were unveiled at the
IFA
IFA or Ifa may refer to:
Organisations
Economics
* Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK
* Index Fund Advisors
* Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK
* Institute of Ac ...
2012. At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show the
Sony Xperia Z
The Sony Xperia Z was announced by Sony at CES 2013 and was released on 9 February 2013 in Japan and 1 March 2013 in Singapore and the UK. The Xperia Z was initially shipped with the Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system. The smartphone h ...
and
Sony Xperia ZL were announced, followed by the
Sony Xperia Z1
The Sony Xperia Z1 is an Android smartphone produced by Sony. The Z1, at that point known by the project code name "Honami", was unveiled during a press conference in IFA 2013 on 4 September 2013. The phone was released in China on 15 Septemb ...
, unveiled during a press conference in IFA 2013, the
Sony Xperia Z2 during the 2014
Mobile World Congress
MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry.
The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the Fir ...
in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Spain, and the
Sony Xperia Z3
The Sony Xperia Z3 is an Android smartphone produced by Sony. Part of the Sony Xperia Z series, the Xperia Z3, at that point known by the project code name "Leo", was unveiled during a press conference at IFA 2014 on September 4, 2014. It was fi ...
in IFA 2014.
On October 30, 2014, Sony announced that Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning, Finance and New Business Creation Department Hiroki Totoki will replace Kunimasa Suzuki as president and CEO of Sony Mobile Communications with effect from November 16, 2014. Suzuki subsequently became the Group Executive of Sony Corporation after his departure from Sony Mobile Communications.
In the last quarter of 2015, Sony Mobile had the highest per-handset-profit and average selling price of all major Android handset manufacturers. However, in terms of market share, Sony Mobile dropped out of the top 10 smartphone vendors globally for the first time in the first quarter of the year.
Sony Mobile has been the only major smartphone OEM that has given support to developing communities of smaller, hacker-focused mobile operating systems during this time. In 2013 Sony released an experimental
Firefox OS
Firefox OS (project name: ''Boot to Gecko'', also known as ''B2G'') is a discontinued open-source operating system made for smartphones, tablet computers, smart TVs, and dongles designed by Mozilla and external contributors. It is based on th ...
ROM for the
Sony Xperia E
The Sony Xperia E (C1504/5, 1604/5) is an Android smartphone manufactured by Sony Corporation. The phone was released in March 2013, and is available in single and dual SIM variants.
Core hardware
Xperia E is powered by a 1.008 GHz sing ...
device. In 2017 Sony got
Sailfish OS
Sailfish OS is a Linux-based operating system based on free software, and open source projects such as Mer as well as including a closed source UI. The project is being developed by the Finnish company Jolla.
The OS first shipped with the o ...
into its Open Devices program. As a result, the Sailfish software has been officially ported to many Xperia devices.
As of Q2 2018, Sony Mobile's smartphone market share in Japan was 12.5%, behind
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
and
Sharp
Sharp or SHARP may refer to:
Acronyms
* SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme
* Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...
.
On March 26, 2020, Sony announced that it will establish an intermediate holding company "Sony Electronics Corporation" effective April 1, 2020. Sony Electronics Corporation will incorporate the three businesses that comprise its Electronics Products & Solutions ("EP&S") segment (Imaging Products & Solutions, Home Entertainment & Sound, and Mobile Communications) and related global sales and marketing, manufacturing, logistics, procurement and engineering platforms.
Operations
![Sony Mobile ST Ericsson Lund 20120919 0061F (8264084949)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Sony_Mobile_ST_Ericsson_Lund_20120919_0061F_%288264084949%29.jpg)
In 2009, Sony Ericsson announced that it was moving its North American headquarters from
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States, occupying in North Carolina and hosting more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers.
The facility is named for its location relative to the three surrounding cities ...
to
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. The headquarters move was part of a plan to reduce its workforce, then 10,000 employees, by 20%. As of that year, Sony Ericsson had 425 employees in Research Triangle Park; the staff had been reduced by hundreds due to layoffs.
Stacy Doster, a spokesperson of Sony Ericsson, said that the proximity to
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's flights to Latin America and the operations of
AT&T Mobility
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the thi ...
influenced the decision to move the USA headquarters. Sony Ericsson will close the Research Triangle site.
On August 23, 2012, Sony announced heavy cuts of their work force in
Lund, Sweden
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
. In September 2014, Sony announced taking a €1.3 billion impairment charge on the Sony Mobile division and cutting another 15% of jobs - equivalenting about 1000 employees - at Sony Mobile.
Products
Sony Ericsson smartphones
Sony Ericsson (originally Ericsson) was part of the
Symbian Ltd. consortium and supported the
UIQ
UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) was a software platform based upon Symbian OS, created by UIQ Technology AB. It is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core operating system, to enable the deve ...
pen-based touch interface for
Symbian OS
Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian ...
. The first Sony Ericsson UIQ smartphone was the
Sony Ericsson P800
The Sony Ericsson P800 is a smartphone introduced in 2002 based upon UIQ version 2.0 (which itself is based upon Symbian OS v7.0) from Sony Ericsson. The P800 is considered the successor of the Ericsson R380, and initial design work was done withi ...
in 2002. Sony Ericsson joined the
Symbian Foundation
The Symbian Foundation was a non-profit organisation that stewarded the Symbian operating system for mobile phones which previously had been owned and licensed by Symbian Ltd. Symbian Foundation never directly developed the platform, but evangelis ...
in 2008 and soon
UIQ Technology
UIQ Technology AB was a Swedish company that developed and licensed the UIQ software based on Symbian OS which was used in smartphone offerings from Sony Ericsson, Motorola, BenQ and Arima. They were based in the Soft Center Science & Research ...
went bankrupt - the
Sony Ericsson Satio
The Sony Ericsson Satio (U1) is a smartphone, announced by Sony Ericsson at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on 15 February 2009 as the Idou (pronounced "I do"). It was released on 7 October 2009 in the UK in 3 colour schemes: Black, ...
was released in 2009 running on Symbian^1, which would be succeeded by
Sony Ericsson Vivaz
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz (U5i) is a smartphone, announced by Sony Ericsson on 21 January 2010. It was released on 5 March 2010 in the color schemes Moon Silver, Cosmic Black, Galaxy Blue and Venus Ruby.
The phone is compact and has its focus spr ...
in 2010. For the Japanese market, Sony Ericsson also produced
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
and Symbian-based
MOAP
MOAP (Mobile Oriented Applications Platform) is the software platform for NTT DoCoMo's Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access (FOMA) service for mobile phones.
It has a closed user interface, so third parties cannot develop software for native appl ...
handsets for
NTT DoCoMo, as well as
REX OS
Rex may refer to:
* Rex (title) (Latin: king, ruler, monarch), a royal title
** King of Rome (Latin: Rex Romae), chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom
People
* Rex (given name), for people with the given name
* Rex (surname), for people with t ...
for
au/KDDI.
Sony Ericsson launched their first
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
device in 2008, the
Xperia X1, at the 2008
Mobile World Congress
MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry.
The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the Fir ...
in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, which carried the Windows Mobile operating system with a Sony Ericsson panel interface and was manufactured by
HTC
HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
. They would further develop two more Windows Mobile devices:
Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 and Sony Ericsson Aspen in 2010. By this time, Sony Ericsson switched all its focus on Google's
Android operating system. The company's CEO did confirm a Sony Ericsson
Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...
device for 2011. A prototype exists and was leaked on the internet in 2011, but no Windows Phone device was ever released.
There was also a line of
BRAVIA
Bravia (stylized as BRAVIA) is a brand of Sony Visual Products Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, and used for its television products. Its backronym is "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-defi ...
-branded clamshell smartphones that were released for the Japanese market between 2007 and 2010.
Since 2012 all products by Sony Mobile have been in the
Xperia
Xperia () is the brand name of smartphones and tablets from Sony. The name Xperia is derived from the word "experience", and was first used in the Xperia X1 tagline of "I Xperia the best".
Sony Mobile was previously known globally as Sony E ...
range and running the Android OS - the
Xperia X10
Xperia () is the brand name of smartphones and tablets from Sony. The name Xperia is derived from the word "experience", and was first used in the Xperia X1 tagline of "I Xperia the best".
Sony Mobile was previously known globally as Sony Er ...
model launched in 2010 was the first to feature this. In 2011 Sony Ericsson carried a range of mid and high-end Android smartphones all using the same
SoC, only differentiating in form factor, screen size and multimedia capabilities. Although in 2012 the phones already carried the Sony brand on them, they were still (mostly) developed by Sony Ericsson, as can be seen from the green logo on the back of handsets like the
Xperia S and
Xperia T
Sony Xperia T (renamed Sony Xperia TL in the United States) is an Android smartphone manufactured by Sony Mobile. Introduced on 29 August 2012, it is Sony Mobile's last device ever introduced to feature the Sony Ericsson liquid energy logo after ...
.
Sony smartphones (Xperia)
![Sony SmartWatch Xperia Z1 SBH52 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Sony_SmartWatch_Xperia_Z1_SBH52_2.JPG)
The line-up in 2013 brought an entirely different design of phones, first seen on the
Xperia Z
The Sony Xperia Z was announced by Sony at CES 2013 and was released on 9 February 2013 in Japan and 1 March 2013 in Singapore and the UK. The Xperia Z was initially shipped with the Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system. The smartphone h ...
smartphone, and called 'OmniBalance' (roughly translated as 'balance everywhere') by Sony. In 2014 Sony stated to be focusing more on the high-end phone market and reducing the number of low and mid-end products. The first model launched in 2015 was the
Xperia Z3+, featuring updated internals in a body similar to the
Xperia Z3.
In 2016, Sony introduced the Xperia X series at
MWC 2016 to replace the Z series. The last device to launch under the Xperia X series was the
Xperia XZ3, a flagship device released in late-2018 featuring an OLED display, a first for Sony smartphones, then it got replaced by the number series introduced on the
Xperia 1
The Sony Xperia 1 is an Android smartphone manufactured and marketed by Sony. Part of Sony's flagship Xperia series, the device was announced to the public at a press conference held at the annual 2019 Mobile World Congress event on February 25 ...
in 2019.
Wearables
![Sony Smartband (12946168483)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Sony_Smartband_%2812946168483%29.jpg)
Sony (then Sony Ericsson) has been making
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
enabled watches from as early as 2006. In 2010 the
LiveView smartwatch was launched, featuring a colour
OLED
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...
display that let the user view notifications and control the music player. Its successor was the
Sony SmartWatch
The Sony SmartWatch is a line of wearable devices developed and marketed by Sony Mobile from 2012 to 2016 through three generations. They connect to Android smartphones and can display information such as Twitter feeds and SMS messages, among oth ...
in 2012, of which two newer revisions have been made since.
In 2014 a fitness tracking band, named SmartBand, was introduced. The device's data is accessed using an Android application named
Lifelog
A lifelog is a personal record of one's daily life in a varying amount of detail, for a variety of purposes. The record contains a comprehensive dataset of a human's activities. The data could be used to increase knowledge about how people liv ...
, which presents statistics about their everyday activities. In 2015, a successor to the SmartBand was introduced, named SmartBand 2, which can track user's heart rate, movements, sleep, and the moments they are calm or excited.
PlayStation Certified
In 2011, Sony Ericsson announced the first
PlayStation Certified
PlayStation Mobile (formerly PlayStation SuiteHinkle, David. (2012-06-04 HTC is first partner for 'PlayStation Mobile,' the new name for PlayStation Suite phone, the Xperia Play">pdate: Press release added Joystiq. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.) was a software framework us ...
phone, the Xperia Play which meant that it had access to PlayStation Mobile games. The previously released Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Sony Ericsson Xperia acro, Xperia acro became the next PlayStation Certified devices followed by the
and other Sony Tablets.
Sony Mobile offers a wide range of applications, ranging from music and videos to camera and gaming apps. Some of Sony Mobile's most popular apps include:
*Cinema Pro - premium video recording application co-developed with
-like manual controls.
*Game Enhancer - makes gameplay much more convenient with various functions.
*Lifelog - activity tracking and
- online film and television programme distribution service that first was offered by
allows PS3 or PS4 games to be played on Xperia smartphones and tablets.
range - launched 2007 in Japan. To date, five BRAVIA branded phones have been produced: Sony Ericsson (
-branded W series music phones, launched in 2005. The Sony Ericsson W-series music phones were notable for being the first music-centric series mobile phones. A notable feature was a 'W' button, which when pressed opens the media centre.
*The
-branded line of phones, launched in 2006 in newer models of the K series phones. This range of phones are focused on the quality of the camera included with the phone. Cyber-shot phones always include a flash, some with a xenon flash, and also include auto-focus cameras. Sony Ericsson kicked off its global marketing campaign for Cyber-shot phone with the launch of 'Never Miss a Shot'. In February 2008, the series was expanded with the announcement of C702, C902 and C905 phones.
*The
smartphone range of mobiles, introduced with the P series in 2003 with the introduction of P800. They are notable for their touchscreens, QWERTY keypads (on most models), and use of the UIQ interface platform for
. The range was subsequently expanded with the M series and G series.
*The GreenHeart range - first introduced in 2009 with the Sony Ericsson J105i Naite and C901 GreenHeart. Focused on an environmentally friendly theme, it mainly used eco-friendly materials and featured eco-apps.
;"I love"
On October 2, 2006, Sony Ericsson adopted a new corporate and advertising identity inspired by
in which the circular Sony Ericsson icon is placed instead of a heart meaning "love". This would then be followed by words, initially simple ones such as "music" or "photography" and later by for instance "my hip hop loud" or "life captured". The branding was designed by the
consultancy. The campaign lasted until 2009 when it was replaced by multicoloured Sony Ericsson icons using Sony's slogan "make.believe".
;Social media
During 2010, in 11 months, Sony Ericsson's Facebook fan count rose from 300,000 to 4 million to become the 40th-largest brand on the social networking site. The company aims to capitalise on this fanbase and increase engagement by profiling these fans and matching them to dedicated content. It will also analyse the top commenters on the Facebook page and ensure engagement through special content and offering these fans the chance to visit Sony Ericsson offices.
;Sports sponsorship
. According to the head of global marketing partnerships, Stephan Croix, “our sport sponsorships allow us to promote our phones in a subtle and authentic way to our fanbase. Our promise to fans is to enrich their experience during the game but also before and after.” Sony Ericsson Open was renamed to Sony Open Tennis in 2013.
Sony Mobile sponsored the
.
– music, photo, video, and game management software made for Sony Ericsson phones
*