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Sony has confirmed that it will pay $1.47 billion for Ericsson’s 50 percent share in Sony Ericsson.
The joint venture was founded back in October 2011 and it established itself as one of the most successful phone makers in the years to follow. However, the outfit struggled to adapt to new market trends and its sales plummeted over the past five years, from 103 million units in 2007 to just over 43 million last year.
Sony will also get an IP cross licensing agreement, allowing it to use the joint venture’s patents pertaining to wireless communications, which should come in handy for its tablet business.
Although Sony Ericsson didn’t make much of an impact in the smartphone market, its latest Android based devices have managed to grab some attention. With a bit more investment and Sony’s stepped up involvement, this could change for the better. The deal should be finalized in early 2012.
Interestingly, the announcement comes just a day after Nokia launched its first Windows Phone handsets, so we might be looking at the start of a Scandinavian phone renaissance.
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Mobiles
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