What does SONY takeover mean for Sony Ericsson fans ??

First of all, I must say this is my first post after a brief hiatus of 6 months. I ran out of topic and kept myself away from blogging for a while. But now I am back again with an interesting topic (at least for myself !)

Sony and Ericsson

Sony and Ericsson were separate companies and still they are. A common thing between both these companies - their loss making mobile ventures. Yes ! They were in mobile business with their own brand names Sony and Ericsson respectively a decade ago. In fact Ericsson was the world's no.3 handset maker at times. So Sony and Ericsson decided to join hands and try their luck in Joint Venture which resulted in birth of Brand 'Sony Ericsson'.

Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson was established on October 1,2001 as a joint venture between Japanese consumer electronics company Sony and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones. The main reason for this venture is to combine Sony's consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson's technological knowledge in the communications sector. It has been a decade exactly since this not-so-successful mobile venture was formed.

Hits and Misses
Sony Ericsson has had their initial success with Walkman and Cyber-shot branded mobile phones. As their name suggests, Walk man and Cyber-shot are music and camera special phones respectively. Some of the famous phones include C902, C905, W800, W810i, W902 and W995 to name a few.
Sony Ericsson launched its first Xperia line of smartphones, X1 in 2008 which featured Windows mobile OS. This was followed by another Windows Phone X2. The Windows OS then was a complete disaster and not-so-user-friendly. It was during that time Google's very own Android came to the scene. By the time Sony Ericsson realized the power of Android, other handset manufacturers like South Korea's Samsung and HTC were way ahead of Sony Ericsson. Not to forget the IPhone from Apple which was a huge hit.

Success with Android

Sony Ericsson tasted some success with their Android phones especially with their 2011 line up of handsets. The Xperia minis, Xperia Arc S and Xperia Ray are some of the best devices. But the much awaited phone Xperia Play, a Playstation Certified Mobile failed to live up to its expectation.

Sony takeover

Recently Sony Electronics bought out the Ericsson's 50% share of Sony Ericsson and integrated the mobile phone division with other Sony products. This is due to the fact that Sony Ericsson market share is continuously decreasing 10%  when it was at its peak to 1.7% now in 2011.

What to Expect from Sony

Sony's move to buyout Sony Ericsson is too late. But I believe it's better late than never. Now Sony will try to strengthen its R&D in smartphones section and expect to launch much better phones than Sony Ericsson did. There's is a possibility of Playstation phone coming with features we can't even imagine of. The takeover is a bit of gamble to Sony as they are too late to enter the smartphone segment. But who knows. If HTC can become a success within a short span of time, why not Sony? With all the technologies in hand, Sony mobiles can be a runaway success if they are serious about the business.

My View as a Sony Ericsson fan

I myself is a huge fan of brand Sony Ericsson and I've been using Sony Ericsson phones for past 5 years which accounts for 50% of brand's existence ( 10 years as you know! ). Sony Ericsson W810i is by far the best mobile I've ever used and Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray and Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S are the best mobiles I've ever seen ( I might end up buying one of these 2 ;-) ). Sony Ericsson has always produced best mobile phones but not best enough to attract people to buy their phones. This is one area Sony must concentrate on. From what I have seen, Sony Ericsson has a huge fan base and only people using Sony Ericsson mobiles are opting for another Sony Ericsson mobile.

Sony Ericsson to be Re-branded

As Ericsson doesn't own Sony Ericsson's share anymore, there definitely will be change in brand name which is a huge disappointment for Sony Ericsson fans. I have seen my buddies ( including myself! ) buying Sony Ericsson mobiles just for the brand name. The question now is not why but when? I guess Sony will use The Mobile World Congress 2012 to be held in Barcelona in February to launch the products with new brand name which might be just 'Sony' or 'Xperia by Sony' if I'm right ( wild guess!! ). Rumors are afloat that Sony will be launching their first dual-core HD recording mobile with a 720p display 'Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD' ( or just 'Sony Xperia Arc HD' or 'Sony Ericsson Nozomi' as some people say or whatever!! ) which definitely will be a good start with a new brand name. Let's hope that the best is yet to come from Sony Ericsson ( or Sony ) and I wish them to retain at least the bubble logo if not the brand name. Miss you brand 'Sony Ericsson'.
Dedicated to all SE fans. Your comments are welcome !