Sony Ericsson posts Q3 profit on smartphone sales

Lower sales volumes, however, disappointed market watchers
who had hoped for a rise. The LM Ericsson and Sony Corp. joint venture shipped
10.4 million units in the July-September period, down 26 percent year-on-year
and 5 percent from the quarter before.
The company’s profit of 49 million euros ($70 million),
which compared with a year-earlier loss of 164 million euros, was helped
largely by lower costs, the result of a savings program it launched in 2008.
Revenues, meanwhile, fell slightly to 1.6 euros billion from
1.62 billion euros, as a 34 percent jump in the average selling price to 154
euros could not make up for the lower shipping volumes. Selling prices were
down 4 percent compared with the second quarter.
“Our strategy to focus on the smartphone segment is
succeeding and smartphones now comprise more than 50 percent of our total
sales,” CEO Bert Nordberg said, adding his company had launched its
Android-based Xperia models in new markets, including both China and the US in
the quarter.
“It is our ambition to become the global number one handset
provider on the Android platform,” he said.
Sony Ericsson said its unit base market share remained flat
compared with the second quarter — at around four percent — while the value
market share is at around 6 percent.
The group also kept unchanged its forecast for units in the
global handset market for 2010, saying it expects slight growth.
Helena Nordman-Knutson, an analyst with Ohman Fondkommision
in Stockholm, said the report was overall worse-than-expected, with the volumes
being the main disappointment.
“The competition out there is extremely tough right now and
you have to have new phones all the time,” she said, pointing to launches by
Samsung as well as Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 4.