Sony, Ericsson Joint Hands on Mobile Phone Businessesapanese major electronics maker Sony Corp. and Swedish telecom equipment giant LM Ericsson will establish a joint venture to integrate their mobile phone businesses, the two accompanies announced Tuesday.The Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (SEMC), which will start operation in October, will be set up on a fifty-fifty investment basis, with Ericsson President Kurt Hellstrom as its chairman and Sony executive Katsumi Ihara its president, the two companies said. The venture, which will have about 3,500 employees worldwide, will be in charge of product research, design and development as well as marketing, sales, distribution and customer service, the two accompanies said. A new brand name and the amount of capital are yet to be finalized. With Ericsson in third place in the global mobile phone market after Nokia Group of Finland and Motorola Inc. of the United States, SEMC aims to be the world leader in mobile phone business, Ihara said. Through the cooperation, Sony is to take advantage of Ericsson's expertise in mobile phone infrastructure while it will offer know-how in product planning and design, he noted. The tie-up is also aimed at sharing swelling development costs for next-generation mobile phones, Ihara added. The joint venture is likely to be based in London, according to Sony officials, and Sony will put around 300 to 500 million US dollars into SEMC. |
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