Hirai refuses to rule out Sony Ericsson sale

The speculation over whether Sony Ericsson will be bought entirely by parent company Sony has come to the fore once more at the AsiaD conference.

Kazuo Hirai, Sony's executive deputy president, stated that he was keen for the two brands to work more closely together to help further the Japanese firm's presence in the smartphone world.

"After April, when the latest management change happened at Sony and I was put in charge of all the consumer products, [one of the issues was] Sony Ericsson has a different reporting line," said Hirai.

"One of the things I've done is to say whether this is a joint venture or not, the fact of the matter is the Sony Ericsson component is integral to Sony's strategy going forward, and therefore it doesn't matter if it's a joint venture or not, we have to make sure we're working in lockstep."

Mutual collaborative joint togetherness

"We have to understand what Sony Ericsson is doing and they have to understand what Sony is trying to do, from a marketing or other collaborative point of view. We have to make sure that happens, creating a seamless offering to our customers, and that's something we've started working on with things like the Xperia Play," he continued.

The integration of Sony brands Bravia, Exmor R and PlayStation components into the latest range of Xperia phones is testament to this change, showing that the two companies are working closer together.

While Hirai didn't confirm the joint venture will be bought out, the number of rumours around the issue, plus Sony's in-house tablet range, mean it seems ever more likely we'll see Sony striking out as a solo mobile phone brand in the future.