Sony pays 1bn to buy Ericsson out of mobile joint venture

Sony is buying Ericsson out from their mobile phone joint venture, in the latest reshaping of an industry racing to react to the runaway success of Apple's iPhone.

The Japanese technology giant is paying €1.05 billion (£920,000) to end a 10-year partnership with Ericsson, the world's largest maker of telecoms network equipment.

Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer aims to boost the company's consumer electronics offering by more closely integrating phones with its televisions, personal computers and PlayStation games consoles. The deal includes five key patents that cover wireless technology.

Sony Ericsson initially thrived with a series of camera and music phones, but lost ground to rivals including Samsung when internet-enabled smartphones came to the fore.

Its handsets run on the Android operating system, developed by Google, which alongside Apple has become a prime mover in the industry over the last five years.

"This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want," Stringer said. "We can help people enjoy all our content - from movies to music and games - through our many devices, in a way no one else can."

London-based Sony Ericsson has 7500 staff and made a profit of €90m last year.

The move comes a day after Nokia unveiled the Lumia, its first handset that runs on the Windows operating system. The Finnish firm is still the world's largest maker of mobile phones but has struggled at the top end of the market, forcing boss Steve Elop to throw his lot in with Microsoft earlier this year.