Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001[1] by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sony's consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson's technological knowledge in the communications sector. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones.

The company's global management is based in Hammersmith, London, and it has research and development teams in Lund, Tokyo, Mexico City, Beijing, and Redwood Shores in the US. By 2009, it was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world after Nokia, Samsung and LG.[5] The sales of products largely increased due to the launch of the adaptation of Sony's popular Walkman and Cyber-shot series. In 2010, its market share had dropped to sixth place behind Research In Motion and Apple.
Recent performance

Sony Ericsson has struggled since the arrival of Apple's iPhone in the third quarter of 2007. Its handset shipments have dropped from a high of 30.8m in Q4 2007 to just 8.1m in 1Q 2011, according to its financial reports.[7] The company had made net losses in six of the 15 quarters and seen its cash pile shrink from €2.2bn to €599m, after taking a €375m cash injection from its joint owners. The eclipse of the Symbian operating system, initially by the iPhone and then by Google's Android, has affected Sony Ericsson's position in the market.

While it is based in Scandinavia, its South Korean rival LG Electronics overtook it in Q1 2008 due to the company's profits falling significantly by 43% to €133 million (approx. US$ 179.6697 million[8]), sales falling by 8% and market share dropping from 9.4% to 7.9%, despite favourable conditions that the handset market was expected to grow by 10% in 2008. Sony Ericsson announced another profit warning in June 2008[9] and saw net profit crash by 97% in Q2 2008, announcing that it would cut 2,000 jobs, leading to wide fear that Sony Ericsson is on the verge of decline along with its struggling rival, Motorola.[10] In Q3 the profits were much on the same level, however November and December saw increased profits along with new models being released such as the C905 being one of the top sellers across the United Kingdom.

Sony Ericsson has, as of July 18, 2008, approximately 9,400 employees and 2,500 contractors worldwide. Bert Nordberg is the president of the company since October, 2009. Sir Howard Stringer, CEO and President, Sony Corporation, is chairman of the board.

Nokia

Nokia Corporation (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈnɔkiɑ]) (OMX: NOK1V, NYSE: NOK, FWB: NOA3) is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki.[2] Nokia is engaged in the manufacturing of mobile devices and in converging Internet and communications industries, with over 132,000 employees in 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and global annual revenue of over €42 billion and operating profit of €2 billion as of 2010.[1] It is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones: its global device market share was 31% in the fourth quarter 2010, up from an estimated 30% in third quarter of 2010 but down from an estimated 35% in the fourth quarter of 2009. Nokia's estimated share of the converged mobile device market was 31% in the fourth quarter, compared with 38% in the third quarter 2010.[1] Nokia produces mobile devices for every major market segment and protocol, including GSM, CDMA, and W-CDMA (UMTS). Nokia offers Internet services such as applications, games, music, maps, media and messaging through its Ovi platform. Nokia's subsidiary Nokia Siemens Networks produces telecommunications network equipment, solutions and services.[3] Nokia is also engaged in providing free digital map information and navigation services through its wholly owned subsidiary Navteq.[4] Nokia also has greater dependency on England based company duo namely Symbian Corporation for its mobile operating systems and OVI for its mobile-based application software development and distribution, which has made Nokia as highest-selling mobile-phone vendor within the past few years.

Nokia has sites for research and development, manufacture and sales in many countries throughout the world. As of December 2010, Nokia had R&D presence in 16 countries and employed 35,870 people in research and development, representing approximately 27% of the group's total workforce.[1] The Nokia Research Center, founded in 1986, is Nokia's industrial research unit consisting of about 500 researchers, engineers and scientists.[5][6] It has sites in seven countries: Finland, China, India, Kenya, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.[7] Besides its research centers, in 2001 Nokia founded (and owns) INdT – Nokia Institute of Technology, a R&D institute located in Brazil.[8] Nokia operates a total of 9 manufacturing facilities[9] located at Salo, Finland; Manaus, Brazil; Cluj, Romania; Beijing and Dongguan , China; Komárom, Hungary; Chennai, India; Reynosa, Mexico; and Masan, South Korea.[10][11] Nokia's industrial design department is headquartered in Soho in London, UK with significant satellite offices in Helsinki, Finland and Calabasas, California in the US.

Nokia is a public limited-liability company listed on the Helsinki, Frankfurt, and New York stock exchanges.[9] Nokia plays a very large role in the economy of Finland; it is by far the largest Finnish company, accounting for about a third of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock Exchange (OMX Helsinki) as of 2007, a unique situation for an industrialized country.[12] It is an important employer in Finland and several small companies have grown into large ones as its partners and subcontractors.[13] Nokia increased Finland's GDP by more than 1.5% in 1999 alone. In 2004 Nokia's share of the Finnish GDP was 3.5% and accounted for almost a quarter of Finland's exports in 2003.[14]

Finns have consistently ranked Nokia as one of the best Finnish brands. In 2008, it was the 27th most respected brand among Finns, down from sixth place in 2007.[15] The Nokia brand, valued at $29.5 billion, is listed as the eight most valuable global brand in the Interbrand/BusinessWeek Best Global Brands list of 2010 (first non-US company).[16][17] It is the number one brand in Asia (as of 2007)[18] and Europe (as of 2009),[19] the 41st most admirable company worldwide in Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list of 2010 (third in Network and Other Communications Equipment, seventh non-US company),[20] and the world's 120th largest company as measured by revenue in Fortune Global 500 list of 2010.[21] As of 2010, AMR Research ranks Nokia's global supply chain No. 19 in the world.[22] In July 2010, Nokia announced that their profits had dropped 40%.[23] In the global smartphone rivalry, Nokia dominates the worldwide mobile markets, but remains fragile in the United States.

On 11 February 2011, Nokia announced a partnership with Microsoft which will mean most future Nokia smart phones will be powered by the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

 The Nokia House, Nokia's head office located by the Gulf of Finland in Keilaniemi, Espoo, was constructed between 1995 and 1997. It is the workplace of more than 1,000 Nokia employees.
The first Nokia mobile phone using the Microsoft Windows platform will be introduced in 2011, but delivery bulk will be initialised at 2012.