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| Sony Ericsson |
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sony's consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson's technological knowledge in the communications sector. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones.
The company's global management is based in Hammersmith in London, United Kingdom, and it has research & development teams in Lund, Sweden; Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City, Mexico; Beijing, China and Redwood Shores, United States. By 2009, it was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world after Nokia, Samsung and LG. The sales of products largely increased due to the launch of the adaptation of Sony's popular Walkman and Cyber-shot series. In 2010, its market share had dropped to sixth place behind Research In Motion and Apple.
Sony Ericsson has been enjoying strong growth recently, its South Korean rival LG Electronics overtook it in Q1 2008 due to the company's profits falling significantly by 43% to €133 million (approx. US$ 179.6697 million), sales falling by 8% and market share dropping from 9.4% to 7.9%, despite favourable conditions that the handset market was expected to grow by 10% in 2008. Sony Ericsson announced another profit warning in June 2008 and saw net profit crash by 97% in Q2 2008, announcing that it would cut 2,000 jobs, leading to wide fear that Sony Ericsson is on the verge of decline along with its struggling rival, Motorola. In Q3 the profits were much on the same level, however November and December saw increased profits along with new models being released such as the C905 being one of the top sellers across the United Kingdom.
Sony Ericsson has, as of July 18, 2008, approximately 9,400 employees and 2,500 contractors worldwide. Bert Nordberg is the president of the company since October, 2009. Sir Howard Stringer, CEO and President, Sony Corporation, is chairman of the board.
Troubles in Ericsson's mobile phone business
In the United States, Ericsson partnered with General Electric in the early nineties, primarily to establish a US presence and brand recognition.
Ericsson had decided to obtain chips for its phones from a single source—a Philips facility in New Mexico. In March 2000, a fire at the Philips factory contaminated the sterile facility. Philips assured Ericsson and Nokia (their other major customer) that production would be delayed for no more than a week. When it became clear that production would actually be compromised for months, Ericsson was faced with a serious shortage. Nokia had already begun to obtain parts from alternative sources, but Ericsson's position was much worse as production of current models and the launch of new ones was held up.
Ericsson, which had been in the cellular phone market for decades, and was the world's no. 3 cellular telephone handset maker, was struggling with huge losses. This was mainly due to this fire and its inability to produce cheaper phones like Nokia. To curtail the losses, it considered outsourcing production to Asian companies that could produce the handsets for lower costs.
Speculation began about a possible sale by Ericsson of its mobile phone division, but the company's president said they had no plans to do so. "Mobile phones are really a core business for Ericsson. We wouldn't be as successful (in networks) if we didn't have phones", he said.
Previous systems
Sony Ericsson has used three methods in the past of naming their mobile products:
- The most common format uses a total of five (or six) characters, e.g. K750i. This format begins with a capital letter to denote the series of the phone (K750i). This is then followed by three numbers (K750i). The first number indicates the sub-series of the phone, the second indicates the amount of progression from the previous release, i.e. K700i to K750i, and the third number is always either a '0','5' or '8'. The number '8' is used either to show a variation of the phone destined for a different market without a feature, e.g. the W888 is a W880i without 3G, or it is used to separate phones which have identical specifications but the designs are different, e.g. K610i and the K618i or k800i and the k810i. The number '5' is used for newer models, where the first two numbers and the zero have already been used in a previous model, for example in the case of the W700 and the W705, which allows for more naming options. Finally, the lowercase letter at the end of the model name describes the market for which a product is intended; these are: a for the Americas, c for China, and i stands for an international version; there is also an 'im' suffix used for branding i-mode phones. Often the last letter is left out to describe the phone generically with no region specific branding.
- A newer format uses a total of three characters, e.g. P1i. It is believed that this format is intended for naming flagship models of each phone series due to the limited numbering combinations. It begins with a capital letter to denote the series of the phone (P1i). The number is used to indicate the amount of progression from the previous release (P1i) and the final lowercase letter, as explained above, describes the market for which a product is intended. Again, often the last letter is left out to describe the phone generically with no region specific branding.
- The oldest naming format uses a total of four characters, e.g. T68i. This format continued from the naming scheme of the Ericsson mobile business and was only ever used once. This format begins with a capital letter to denote the series of the phone (T68i). The first number indicates the sub-series of the phone (T68i) and the second letter indicates the amount of progression from the previous release. The last lowercase letter indicates that it is an update of the previous model, i.e. T68 to T68i.
Another peculiar naming format was the one used in naming the Z1010; this format has not been used since the Z1010. Furthermore, Sony Ericsson always give their phones codenames when developing. Mainly to keep the information secret and to prevent leaks. All codenames are female names, and some have been taken from the female players of the Sony Ericsson-sponsored tennis tournament, WTA...
Compatibility
During E3 2007 Media and Business Summit, Phil Harrison, Sony CEO showcased a Sony Ericsson phone using the PlayStation's XMB. A select group of phones are also said to integrate into PlayStation Home (final product)
During the announcement of Sony Ericsson K850, W960 and W910 some review sites have shown that those mentioned phones and future mid-range or better phones will have Media to replace the standard File Manager which will be moved to the Organiser of the phone. The Media manager possesses a UI that resembles the XMB interface found on Sony TV, PS3, and PSP products. The mobile developer site confirmed from their spec sheets and white papers that the XMB media manager is standard to the phones running Java Platform 8 also known as A200 Platform and Symbian devices like Sony Ericsson Satio and Sony Ericsson Vivaz.
Operations
In 2009 Sony Ericsson announced that it was moving its North American headquarters from Research Triangle Park, North Carolina to Atlanta. The headquarters move was part of a plan to reduce its workforce, then 10,000 employees, by 20%. As of that year Sony Ericsson had 425 employees in Research Triangle Park; the staff had been reduced by hundreds due to layoffs. Stacy Doster, a spokesperson of Sony Ericsson, said that the proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's flights to Latin America and the operations of AT&T Mobility influenced the decision to move the USA headquarters. Sony Ericsson will close the Research Triangle site.
Environmental record
Sony Ericsson ranks 2nd behind Nokia out of 18 leading electronics makers in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics that assesses companies' policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change. It is the first company to score full marks on all chemicals criteria in the ranking. Sony Ericsson is ahead of many of its competitors in eliminating chemical substances in its products and is currently finalizing the phase out of antimony, beryllium, phthalates and the very small remaining use of BFR.
Greenpeace criticises Sony Ericssons limited take-back and recycling programme, as well as its limited use of recycled plastic in its products. However, in June 2009 launched its first GreenHeart series device, the C901, which indirectly emits a 15% less of CO2 during its fabrication and usage, compared to other SE phones. It is also packed in a small box without paper manual, includes an eco-charger, and its cover is made of recycled plastic.