Sony Renews Mobile Push After Ericsson Buyout

The nearly $1.5 billion deal, announced last October, gives Sony full control of the company's smartphone development and adds patents to its library. The Sony Ericsson brand name will no longer be used on mobile devices. Instead, future smartphones will carry the name of the new business division resulting from the buyout, Sony Mobile Communication.

Sony kicked off its new line of solo-branded Xperia smartphones at this year's CES trade show, underscoring plans to compete more strongly in the mobile market and distance itself from past Sony Ericsson devices that suffered from mediocre sales.

By buying out and dissolving its partnership with Ericsson, Sony gains power to integrate its vast gaming, movie, and music holdings in future smartphone offerings. The company will maintain both hardware manufacturing capabilities and intellectual property rights, enabling it to put a wealth of content on Sony-branded devices.

The entertainment giant will also gain a potential advantage against Apple's iPhone, the new line of Nokia Windows phones, and devices from competing Android makers with the tight integration between the content the Tokyo, Japan-based company is known for, and the hardware capabilities it will gain in the buyout.

The impending deal is also good news for Google, as it adds another high-end handset producer to its stable of Android makers, and indirectly enhances the company's patent library and intellectual property rights.

Sony's revived mobile push will allow the company to make a stronger showing in the mobile gaming field as well, an area where it faces surging competition from smartphones. Sony is pinning its portable gaming hopes mainly on the PlayStation Vita, its next-generation portable game console, which goes on sale next month.

However, the PlayStation Vita aims to please hardcore gamers, who are more likely to pay for a portable system used for gaming only. Moving forward, Sony will likely offer mobile versions of its popular games on its solo-branded smartphone line, expanding its audience by appealing to users who buy games they can play on a device they already carry in their pocket.

EU approval advances Sony a step further along the path to successful competition in the mobile market, but the company still has hurdles ahead as it seeks to gain an advantage in a crowded field.