Gizmodo has a long piece on a topic brought up by Ziff Davis--the death of Sony Ericsson. Don't worry, they are guessing that Sony will just buy out Ericsson's share in the partnership. As you may have remembered, Sony Ericsson is a money losing company. So is Ericsson, which is another reason these rumors keep popping up.
The premise of this talk is that Sony will have to make its Clié line start competing with Handspring/Palm's smartphone offererings. That would directly cut into Sony Ericsson's market. Whatever happens will still be good for the consumer, and that's what counts.