Sony Ericsson is a 50-50 joint venture established in 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, to make mobile phones. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones, letting the new company use Sony's knowledge in customer electronics and Ericssons know-how in cellular technology. The company's global management is based in London, has R&D in Sweden, Japan, China, US and UK, and in total has approximately 3,500 employees around the world.
President is Katsumi Ihara, and Executive Vice President is Jan Wäreby.
In 2002
Sony Ericsson announced its first joint products in March 2002 and now has a full product portfolio covering all target groups. In 2002, Sony Ericsson sold close to 23 million mobile phones.
Nevertheless, it has yet to make a profit for its parent companies with a loss of 241,000,000 euros in 2002. It has been losing market share to its competitors such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Siemens.