Sony plans to phase out the Sony Ericsson brand by the middle of 2012
according to Kristian Tear, Executive VP & Head of Sales &
Marketing at Sony Ericsson, speaking to The Times of India. Smartphones
released beyond this date will simply be branded Sony says Tear.
“
A lot of planning goes into getting the branding right but we
will be done by middle of next year. It will also mean that the
marketing and advertising investments will go up. We haven’t been as
fierce as we were a few years back but we will step it up, refocus and
invest more in brand-building in select markets and India is one of
those markets,” said Tear.
There has been a lot of confusion from some readers wondering why we
still refer to the entity as Sony Ericsson and why some of the recent
leaks of upcoming handsets still have the Sony Ericsson badge on them.
The simple answer is that Sony can only consolidate the acquisition when
it has formally closed and that is not expected to happen until January
2012. This is when the acquisition is expected to receive final and
regulatory approval.
However, once formally complete, Sony plans to leverage as many of
the assets to reach its ambition of becoming a leader in Android
smartphones. “
Sony is the world’s biggest entertainment company. We
were earlier a 50-50 JV, but now that we are a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Sony Corp. We expect to gain from its assets on the content,
technology and brand side,” Tear added.
Via
The Times of India.
