Sony Ericsson is a joint venture established on October 3, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to make mobile phones. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sony's consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson's technological leadership in the communications sector. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones.

The company's global management is based in Hammersmith, London, and it has research & development teams in Sweden, Japan, China, Germany, the United States, India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. By 2008, it was the fifth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world after Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola. The sales of products largely increased due to the launch of the Walkman and Cyber-shot series.

While Sony Ericsson/djevel 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 is expected to grow by 10% in 2008. Sony Ericsson/djevel 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. Hideki Komiyama is the president of the company and has been since November 1, 2007 when he replaced Miles Flint. The Corporate Executive Vice President is Anders Runevad.

Sony Ericsson currently concentrates on the categories of: music, camera, business (web and email), design, all-rounder, and budget focused phones. Its five largest categories are:

* The Walkman-branded W series music phones, launched in 2005.
The Sony Ericsson W-series music phones are notable for being the first music-centric series mobile phones, prompting a whole new market for portable music that was developing at the time. Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones have previously been commercially endorsed by pop stars Christina Aguilera and Jason Kay across Europe.

* The Cyber-shot-branded line of phones, launched in 2006 in newer models of the K series phones.
This range of phones are focused on the quality of the camera included with the phone. Cyber-shot phones always include a flash, some with a xenon flash, and also include auto-focus cameras. Sony Ericsson kicked off its global marketing campaign for Cyber-shot phone with the launch of 'Never Miss a Shot'. The campaign featured top female tennis players Ana Ivanović and Daniela Hantuchová. On 10 February 2008, the series has been expanded with the announcement of C702 and C902 phones.

* The BRAVIA-branded line of phones, launched in 2007 Japan market only.
Now, two mobile phones (FOMA SO903iTV and FOMA SO906i) uses BRAVIA brand. BRAVIA branded phone are able to watch 1seg terrestrial television.

* The UIQ smartphone range of mobiles, introduced with the P series in 2003 with the introduction of P800.
They are notable for their touchscreens, QWERTY keypads (on most models), and use of the UIQ interface Platform from Symbian OS. This has since expanded into the M * The Xperia range of mobile phones, heralded by the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 on February 2008 at the Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM) held in Barcelona Spain , had opened the door for integration of Windows Mobile Operating System into Sony Ericsson powerhouse smartphones. XPERIA was the first trademark promoted by the Sony Ericsson as its own and is designated to provide technological convergence among its target user base

WEBSITE : http://www.sonyericsson.com/