Sony Ericsson will become just Sony by

The Japanese giant has
assumed full control over the the
phone-building company and will only
make smart phones, powered by Android, to regain lost ground against the iPhone. Sony Ericsson has been a joint venture between Sony and Swedish telecoms

company Ericsson for the past decade.
Along with Nokia, Son Eric was a major
name in the phone world until the
iPhone and Android ushered in the smart phone revolution. Sony decided in October to buy out Ericsson for £918m, and the public face of that buyout will be revealed in the first half of 2012. Sony boss Kristian Tear revealed that
the new Sony-only brand would only
make smart phones.

Sony plans to
make the most of its other brands,
such as Bravia, Cyber-shot and the
iconic Walkman name, to claw back some of the ground lost to Apple and
rival Android phone peddlers. Sony Ericsson has a fistful of phones in
the pipeline, including the Nypon and Nozomi, and the hotly anticipated Arc HD. Meanwhile the existing Sony Ericsson Xperia range will be upgraded to Android Ice Cream Sandwich during
2012. Is it a smart move to give up on phones that aren't smart phones? The line
between web-connecting smart
phones and simple phones -- dumb
phones or feature phones -- is getting
blurry, as even the dumbest phones are expected to have cameras, 3G,
maps and even basic apps on board.

Perhaps Sony Ericsson is
acknowledging that all phones are
smart phones nowadays, or perhaps
simply confirming that there's no
money in shifting even vast quantities
of cheap phones. For example, Nokia sells more phones than any other
manufacturer -- in large part to the
developing world -- but is in financial
trouble, and has turned to Windows
Phone smart phones for a shot in the
arm.(cnet.com)