Sony will soon assume full ownership of Sony Ericsson, a joint venture established a decade ago by Japan's Sony Corporation and Sweden's Ericsson. The Japanese consumer electronics giant has announced that it will buy out Ericsson's 50 percent stake in the mobile phone business for €1.05 billion ($1.47 billion), making it a wholly owned subsidiary. The acquisition, which also provides Sony the ownership of five wireless handset-related patent families and an intellectual property cross-licensing agreement, will enable the company to better integrate smartphones into other products such as PCs, televisions and tablets. CEO Sir Howard Stringer says that with the acquisition, Sony "can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment." This, however, doesn't mark the end of the partnership between Sony and Ericsson. Going forward, the companies will set up a wireless connectivity initiative to "drive and develop the market's adoption of connectivity across multiple platforms." Photo: Warren Rohner