Sony Ericsson turned down Google's offer to build the Nexus One

Oh snap! According to Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg, Google offered his company first dibs on building the Nexus One. In its infinite wisdom, Sony Ericsson refused, and the Nexus One build duties went to HTC.

Nordberg apparently wanted to protect the Sony Ericsson brand. He said that the company would only produce phones under its own brand, and that it wouldn’t be a subcontractor to anyone.

The news leaves me sort of speechless, because Sony Ericsson hasn’t been doing all that well lately — the company recently closed down four facilities, and laid off 2,000 workers. It also has yet to make a splash in this recent generation of smartphones. Its first Android device, the Xperia X10, won’t be released until later this year.

The hubris displayed by Sony Ericsson’s decision shows that the company would prefer to fail on its own, rather than team up with someone else to succeed. It also reminds me of VentureBeat writer Paul Boutin’s piece on why Nokia has had such a hard time succeeding in America, where excessive corporate pride likely played a role.

Before the iPhone, and before HTC started kicking butt with its smartphone designs, I was always a fan of Sony Ericsson’s phones. Its phones were the height of design for standard cellphones — each one seemingly had a personality of its own. The company also developed a great looking Windows Mobile smartphone, the Xperia X1, but by that point, Windows Mobile was on its way out.

Ericsson could have made a huge impact with Google’s flagship phone. Instead, the company is going to have to fight off the Nexus One, and other high-end Android phones, whenever the Xperia X10 is released. Good luck with that.

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Tags: Bert Nordberg, sony ericsson