Sony Mobile

For the former LCD panels subsidiary, see Sony Mobile Display.

Sony Mobile Communications Inc.
Native name
ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社
FormerlySony Ericsson (2001–2012)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryTelecommunications
PredecessorEricsson Mobile Communications
FoundedOctober 1, 2001; 23 years ago (2001-10-01)
DefunctApril 1, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-04-01)
FateMerged with Sony Corporation
Headquarters
Shinagawa, Tokyo
,
Japan
Key people
Kenichiro Yoshida
Mitsuya Kishida
Kimio Maki
ParentSony Corporation
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

Sony Mobile Communications Inc. (Japanese: ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Corporation and Ericsson. It was originally incorporated as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications,[3] and headquartered in London, England, until Sony acquired Ericsson's share in the venture on February 16, 2012.[4] On April 1, 2021, Sony integrated its electronics businesses including Sony Mobile into one company called Sony Corporation.[5]

Prior to April 1, 2021, Sony Mobile exclusively created Android-powered smartphones under the Xperia sub-brand name; it also developed tablet computers (Sony Tablet), smartwatches (Sony SmartWatch) and fitness trackers (Sony SmartBand), alongside accessories and software for the devices.

Sony Mobile had research and development facilities in Lund, Sweden; Beijing, China; Tokyo, Japan; and San Francisco, United States.[6] At its peak in 2007, Sony Ericsson, Sony Mobile's predecessor, held a 9 percent global mobile phone market share[7] making it the fourth largest vendor at the time.[8] In 2017, Sony Mobile held less than 1% global market share[9] but 4.8% in Europe[10] and 16.3% in Japan.[11][12]

  1. ^ "Sony Mobile Communications Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com.
  2. ^ "Sony Mobile moving HQ from Sweden to Tokyo on October 1st". Sony Xperia Blog. July 5, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  3. ^ "Ericsson – press release". Cision Wire. Archived from the original on July 14, 2009. Retrieved October 1, 2001.
  4. ^ "Sony Europe". Mynewsdesk. August 31, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  5. ^ Sony integrated its electronics businesses including Sony Mobile
  6. ^ "Our design philosophy". Sony Mobile Communications. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  7. ^ "BBC News - Can Sony succeed where Sony-Ericsson partnership failed?". October 13, 2011 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  8. ^ "Newsroom". Gartner. Archived from the original on August 11, 2018.[full citation needed]
  9. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (August 30, 2018). "Sony launches high-end smartphone with a TV screen on it". CNBC.
  10. ^ "Sony & Samsung Pressure Huawei's Growth in Europe - Global site - Kantar Worldpanel". www.kantarworldpanel.com.
  11. ^ "Samsung's smartphone market share doubles in Japan". www.theinvestor.co.kr.
  12. ^ Ramstad, Jordan (August 8, 2017). "Data: Samsung's Phone Share In Japan Improves In Q2 2017". Android Headlines.