ericsson

The companies didn't disclose the purchase price, but a person familiar with the deal terms said the price was "just south of $200 million." The deal should close in the second half of the year.

One of the next big battlegrounds among industry players is video. Many companies, such as Amazon and Netflix, already provide content, but others are looking to provide a full package to consumers. Chip maker Intel is building an IPTV service and set-top box, … Read more

Ericsson is in talks with Microsoft to buy the software giant's mobile-TV service, according to a report.

Microsoft for years has operated a software division that provides mobile carriers with the technology to deliver television service over their connections. The company is now in talks with Ericsson to sell the division so it can focus on delivering this service through the Xbox, according to Bloomberg, which cited people with knowledge of the discussions.

For Ericsson, the upside of acquiring Microsoft's division would be the opportunity to deliver another service to its wireless customers. The company's strategy is … Read more

Samsung has taken out its big guns against Ericsson in a lawsuit deep in the heart of Texas.

Late yesterday, Samsung responded to a patent violation suit that was filed by Ericsson in the Eastern District of Texas last November. In its suit, Ericsson accused Samsung of patent infringement after the two companies failed to reach an agreement over the renewal of certain patent licensing deals.

In December, Samsung fought back by filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission over the licensing deals and several patent infringement claims. Now Samsung has fired the next shot with its … Read more

ST-Ericsson, the chipmaking joint venture between STMicro and Ericsson, announced today it will dissolve its partnership, dividing up the parts of the business between the two.

Market share for ST-Ericsson in the mobile space has shrunk as rival chipmakers Nvidia, Intel, and Texas Instruments succeeded in getting their components into popular mobile devices. As top customer Nokia lost market share to Apple and Samsung, orders for ST-Ericcson's chips have dwindled. Since the partnership's formation in 2009, Ericcson's share of the losses alone was $2.8 billion.

"All possible scenarios were considered but the option announced today … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Mozilla, Ericsson, and AT&T announced today they're demonstrating technology to place Internet-based voice and video calls that bridge traditional telephone services and the Web.

The demonstration, at Mobile World Congress here, uses the nascent WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) standard to set up browser-based communications between different devices.

The "proof of concept" links a Web app with a person's existing phone number and "shows how consumers can easily take and receive video calls from their mobile phones or desktop browser using WebRTC or share their Web experiences with friends or family who might … Read more

Cloud computing is one of the main trends to keep an eye on in 2013, according to a new report from Ericsson.

The electronics firm's "Ten Hot Consumer Trends 2013" report (PDF) suggests that not only is cloud computing becoming increasingly important in our daily lives, but young people's use of the Internet will drive new businesses and products in the coming year.

The most important technological trend is cloud computing. More than 50 percent of tablet users and 40 percent of smartphone users in the U.S., Japan, Australia, and Sweden subscribe to these kinds … Read more

Ericsson has filed a suit against Samsung for patent infringement.

The Swedish telecommunications equipment maker said today that it launched the lawsuit after the two companies were unable to reach an agreement about renewing patent licensing deals.

Samsung previously licensed Ericsson's patents in 2001 and renewed terms in 2007, but licenses have now expired. According to Ericsson, Samsung refused to renew the licensing agreements for its patents on FRAND terms. FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms are used by industry groups to set standards for technology and products, and are aimed at encouraging competitiveness without allowing rights holders to … Read more

Stop me if you've heard this one before: an embattled consumer electronics company is counting on its latest smartphone to vault it back onto the U.S. consumer's radar.

I could be talking about Nokia, Research in Motion, or LG. But today, it's Sony and the Xperia Ion, which AT&T will sell on June 24 for $99.99.

That you could tell the same attempted-comeback story about so many different vendors in the U.S. underscores the increasingl challenges in the smartphone arena, where there are a few haves (Apple and Samsung Electronics) and many … Read more

The Swedish telecommunications equipment company released its second Traffic and Market report during a media event today in San Francisco.

Fully titled as "Traffic and Market Report: On the Pulse of the Networked Society," the report predicts expansive global data coverage in the next five years.

According to its research, not only will half the world's population be covered by LTE/4G networks in 2017, but 85 percent of the world will have high-speed mobile 3G Internet by then as well.

In addition, the total number of smartphone subscriptions will grow from 700 million in 2011, to … Read more