Boring bits first: Ericsson sells off its power modules biz

• Ericsson has already sold its power modules business
• Is prepping its media businesses for a sale
• Will it pursue what it's calling 'merged reality'? 

Ericsson has just announced that it’s already in the process of selling its power modules business as part of its latest slimming and re-focusing programme announced in March. After many years of successive employee axing, corporate restructuring and general hand-wringing, (see - Ericsson continues its decline: Vestberg takes the rap and goes).

Ericsson is now in asset disposal mode in order to concentrate on what it regards as its main and strategic product areas: these being networks, digital services and Internet of Things.

The modules business is first out of the door and already on its way to software company Flex and its Flex Power division which will take on 300 Ericsson employees, some Sweden-based assets and a manufacturing site in China. Flex is no minnow and styles itself as a “Solutions provider that designs and builds Intelligent Products for a Connected World.” It has approximately 200,000 professionals across 30 countries, The financial terms of the sale have not been disclosed.  

Bloomberg has reported that Ericsson is now turning its attention to its media business sale and is hiring banks to explore the possibilities.

On a more positive note, today Ericsson has also given an indication of roughly where it might place some of its chips in the ‘digital services’ arena, with the publication of its latest ConsumerLab report where it name checks what it’s calling ‘Merged Reality’. It says consumers expect virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to merge with physical reality - of course enabled by  5G.

The research indicates that 70 per cent of early adopters “expect VR/AR to change everyday life fundamentally in six domains: media, education, work, social interaction, travel and retail. Media is already being transformed and consumers expect virtual screens to start replacing televisions and theaters in less than a year.”