Sony Ericsson has released its financial results for the last quarter of 2009 with a narrower loss, continuing the positive trend shown in the prior quarter. However, this also marked its sixth consecutive quarterly loss and brought a whopping €836 million deficit for the whole year.The Swedish-Japanese joint venture reported a forth-quarter loss of €167 million (US$235 million), showing a slight improvement on the €187 million loss a year earlier. Its refreshed portfolio and tighter cost controls helped to improve the results, indicating that the struggling handset maker may be slowing recovering from its plight.
In the meantime, 14.6 million handsets were shipped worldwide, representing a sequential gain of 3 percent from the previous period, but a significant slump of 40 percent from the forth quarter of 2008 when the company sold 24.2 million phones. The number of units shipped in 2009 amounted to 57.1 million, which was 39.5 million less than 2008.
According to Sony Ericsson, the year-on-year decrease was fueled by the downturn in the global handset market and the quick shift in consumer preference to touchscreen devices. The handset manufacturer has been putting most of its effort into its mid-range music and camera series, such as the C905a and W518a, that it overlooked the rapidly rising smartphone segment.
As the world’s fifth largest cell phone maker, ranking behind Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola, Sony Ericsson said its market share was about 5 percent in the forth quarter of 2009, which remained the same as in the previous quarter. Its average selling price (ASP) rose by 5 percent to €120 (US$169), due to the introductions of more high-priced devices like the Satio and the PlayStation3-compatible Aino. For the ongoing year, the company will launch some high-end flagship smartphones, including the Xperia X10 (based on Android) and the Xperia X2 (powered by Windows Mobile).
"2010 will still be challenging as the full benefit of cost improvements will not impact results until the second half of the year, however we are confident that our business is on the right track," said Bert Nordberg, Sony Ericsson’s new Chief Executive.
The worst may be over for Sony Ericsson. But to stay alive in the competitive handset industry, the company will have to do a lot more than cost cutting, and also work on better catering to consumers’ needs.
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