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

The company's global management is based in Hammersmith, London. It also has research & development teams in Sweden, Japan, China, Canada, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Sony Ericsson has approximately 6,000 employees worldwide. The current President is Miles Flint and the Corporate Executive Vice President is Ericsson veteran Jan W?reby.

Products and services
Sony its first joint products in March 2002 and now has a full product portfolio covering all target groups. Sony Ericsson introduced the Walkman-branded W series music phones in 2005 (ten models to date: W200, W300, W550, W600, W610, W700, W710, W800, W810, W830, W850, W880, W900 and W950). 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 is also starting to incorporate its Cybershot brand to its 2006 line-up with the introduction of the 3.2 megapixel camera phone, the K790/K800. The K800 is the latest camera flagship model for Sony Ericsson, competing, not directly however, with Nokia's S60 devices in the N-series.

Officials from Sony Ericsson stated that the company will produce low-cost cost colour screen and playing handsets for people of India with lower income. The phones will include a colour screen and music playing handsets. Sony Ericsson will make phones in India through its manufacturing agreements it has with Flextronics and Foxconn. The company's representatives said that by 2009 they hope Indian mobile phone market to increase to 10 million pieces. [2]

Phone series description
D series - Low-mid range mobile phones. T-Mobile network operator exclusive. ("Deutsche Telekom") (D750)
F series - Low-mid range mobile phones. Vodafone and Vodafone partner network operator exclusive. (F500)
J series - Low end candybar mobile phones. Do not feature cameras. ("Junior") (J100-J300)
K series - Low to high end candybar mobile phones. Feature cameras with dual front design. ("Kamera" Swedish) (K200-K810)
M series - Mid range Symbian OS smartphones. ("Messaging") (M600)
P series - High end Symbian OS smartphones. ("PDA") (P800-P990)
S series - High-mid end swivel mobile phones. ("Swivel") (S700/S710)
T series - Low to high end candybar type mobile phones and a carryover from the former Ericsson line of mobile phones. Later branched off into the K series and the J series. (T68-T630)
V series - Mid to high end mobile phones. Vodafone and Vodafone partner network operator exclusive. ("Vodafone") (V600-V800)
W series - Low to high end Walkman mobile phones. Feature more sophisticated media players. ("Walkman") (W200-W950)
Z series - Low to (currently) high-mid end clamshell mobile phones. Swedish: Ze Bobber (Z200-Z1010)

Financial information
Sony Ericsson posted its first profit in the second half of 2003, buoyed in part by sales of its new line of and 42.3 million phones in 2004. In 2005, Sony Ericsson sold more than 50 million units.[3] In 2006, Sony Ericsson's handset sales increased to more than 74.8 million units.[4]

According to the Swedish Magazine M3's issue 7/2006 Sony Ericsson is the best-selling phone brand in the North countries, followed by Nokia.

According to the IT Gartner, in the third quarter of 2006, Sony Ericsson was the fourth largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world after Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. It held an 8% global market share.