Fresh from its acquisition of Ericsson’s share in their joint venture, Sony has confirmed plans to phase out the Sony Ericsson brand in favour of its own brand. Kristian Tear, an executive VP with Sony Ericsson, told The Times of India that the rebranding should be complete by by mid-2012. According to 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.”
Tear also indicated that Sony will focus on smartphones going forward. Its goal is to become the top Android smartphone manufacturer. With Sony Ericsson currently owning about 2% of the global mobile handset market, Sony has its work cut out for it. One advantage it will have will be access to Sony’s “assets on the content, technology and brand side,” added Tear.