Sony splashes $1.45 billion to shunt Ericsson from mobile partnership

by Steven Mostyn - Oct 27 2011, 09:18

Major business wrangling ahoy following news that Sony Corp. has thrown a shed-load of cash at Ericsson in order to buy the Swedish technology firm out its longstanding ‘Sony Ericsson’ mobile partnership. Woof.

That’s according to a rush of industry reports which reveal that Sony has stumped up around $1.45 billion USD in order to officially knock the Ericsson name off all future Sony mobile devices.

With Sony now set to secure various handset technology patents previously held by Ericsson, the Japanese electronics giant has said it will be better placed to integrate mobile phone and smartphone devices into its previously partitioned portfolio of Sony-branded platforms.

“We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment,” trumpeted Sony chief executive Howard Stringer regarding the deal.

And, beyond ending the 10-year partnership with a pocket stuffed with filthy lucre, Ericsson has said that it also walks away with a cross-licensing agreement covering all of Sony’s products and services, along with “five essential patent families” connected to wireless handset technologies.

The buyout deal is expected to be finalized during the early part of 2012.

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