Sony intents to take control over joint venture Sony Ericsson by buying its Swedish partner for $1.45 bn. Sony decides to become a rival for such companies as Apple and Samsung. It means the end of decade-long joint venture with the telecoms company. Now it is integrated into consumer division which includes TVs, the Sony PlayStation, PCs and tablets.
Sony announced that the agreement is cross-licensing and includes ownership on five essential families of patents for wireless mobile phone development.
This month Sony Ericsson broke even in its third-quarter financial update for 2011. It holds a market share of 11% of the Android phone market. As a result represents 80% of the company's third-quarter sales.
