Ericsson cell phone brand could disappear

OXFORD, United Kingdom—The joint cell phone venture between Ericsson and Sony could, according to the executives of the Swedish telecoms giant, see the Ericsson brand name fade from prominence. Sony said that, while they have not yet agreed upon a new brand name for the jointly developed products, it was likely that any new name would have elements of the two names in it, but Ericsson said an entirely autonomous brand was also possible.
While some analysts have indicated their grave doubts about the agreement, others say the companies complement each other. Ericsson is considered an expert in developing cell phones, but has fallen short on style and designs that appeal to customers. Sony is seen as having strong marketing flare, making stylish handsets, but it has had problems with reliability.
Separately, Ericsson confirmed that Taiwan-based GVC Corp, a leading manufacturer of computer products, was to start deliveries of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) handsets to the company before the end of this year. GVC, which is struggling to push cell phone volumes above 300,000 for this quarter, said that this division of the company would report record losses for the second half of the year.