If nothing happens, Sony Ericsson's headquarters will soon be invaded by angry Sony Ericsson fans

Sony Ericsson today announced its Q2 financial results. During the second quarter of 2008 Sony Ericsson achieved break-even results, and once again declared that the market is “proving challenging”. This has to be the third time they’ve come up with those ground-breaking statements. I’m guessing that’s what their “contuined R&D investments” have been used it, as it most certainly wasn’t used for researching and developing anything phone related.
Another ‘highlight’ in Sony Ericsson’s press release about the Q2 financial results is the announcement of Symbian Foundation. To me it seems like this was only added because there was nothing just slightly exciting left for the PR crew to add.

So, let’s get to the results. They’re bad - really bad.

• During the second quarter of the year, Sony Ericsson just managed to ship a total of 24.4 million units; that’s lower than the total amount of shipped units in Q2 2007. YoY change: -2.05 %
• The sales brought in a total of 2,820 million Euro. Once again, significantly lower than last year’s sales. YoY change: -10.35 %
• The gross margin fell from 29.2 % in Q1 to 23.1 % in Q2. YoY change: -28.14 %
• The operating income has turned negative, and is now at -2 million Euro. YoY change: - 100.63 %
• The netto income is now down to 6 Million Euro. YoY change: -97.28 %

Isn’t that just pathetic? Sony Ericsson yet again blames the market for being challenging - did I say that before (?) - and once again don’t think the mid/high-end markets are the ones to go for. Once again, my guess is that they are looking at their own facts and numbers, and found out their mid/high-end devices are simply not popular. I wonder why…

I guess faithful Sony Ericsson owners can start getting acquainted to getting larger and larger amounts of low-end phones.

- We are aligning our operations and resources worldwide to meet an increasingly competitive business environment and to help restore our capability for profitable growth. The measures we are taking are aimed at becoming a faster, more agile and more cost efficient organisation that can continue to create innovative products that excite consumers, says Hideki Komiyama, Sony Ericsson’s President in the press release.

- Our target is to achieve a reduction in operating expenses of Euro 300 million annually, with the full effect expected to appear within a year. We estimate that our restructuring charges will be of the same magnitude as our reduction in operating expenses, and we will incur such charges as our measures are implemented, he continues.

What he fails to mention is that this will mean up to 2,000 Sony Ericsson employees will get sacked. Such a pity.

I sincerely hope this is the kick in the behind Sony Ericsson needs to rise again. If not, then I don’t have any plans of staying with this company.

You can read the full joke over here.

Filed under: Announcement, Corporative, Market, Market share, Videos

Sony Ericsson today officially confirmed the rumours - July 22 is the date of the next product announcement. According to our information, a total of three handsets will be announced - W302, W585/W595 & W902. Alicia (W707) is a cancelled project.

Once again we’ve got the stuff about the phones, but we’ll keep it to ourselves for now. Sony Ericsson didn’t like our recent leaks, especially not the C905 one, so we’ll play good this time

You can check out Sony Ericsson’s minisite for the upcoming announcement here.

Filed under: Announcement, Music, Walkman

Yet another of the rumoured phones to be announced on July 22 has today been leaked - W302, codenamed Feng, which is a Walkman branded S302. This means it’s got a 2 mega pixel fixed focus camera, 176 x 220 pixels display and it runs the A2 software platform.

We told you about the T610 remake almost two weeks ago, and now more photos of this phone, still only known by its codename (Remi), have been leaked. Remi is a candybar phone, probably for the T-series range of phones. It features a mediocre 3.2 mega pixel camera without auto focus, though with a flash LED, as well as HSDPA for speedy Internet connections. It’s basically a generic version of W890. Remi is not going to be announced on July 22.

Let’s start off with Feng…

Continue reading “Feng and Remi goes live”

Filed under: New phone, Prototype, Rumour, T series, W series, Walkman

Here’s a menu interface walkthrough of the Sony Ericsson G702, codenamed Beibei, that was never announced.

[Thanks phoner!]

Filed under: Prototype, UIQ, Videos

The Sony Ericsson W902 has just been leaked at SE4M, as well as a few teasers at Esato. This phone is codenamed Patti, and is basically a Walkman branded C902 with a few changes, such as dedicated music controls on the side.

Also leaked earlier on was the W595. While I was on a short vacation, additional pictures have surfaced the web of this one - some of Esato and some on Myphone.gr. They don’t really show much, and the ones from Myphone.gr are just as blurry as the first leaks, so I didn’t include either. I’m sure you’ll be able to find them, if you’re good with Google. If not, let me know.

I’ve included the many photos of W902 just below. Both this one and W595 will be announced on July 22nd at a Walkman / music gig. I think another phone will be announced here as well - not the T610 remake, though, this is for a later announcement this year.

Continue reading “Say hello to Sony Ericsson W902 (and W595, again)”

Filed under: Music, Prototype, Rumour, Upcoming, W series, Walkman

Here we’ve got a rather nice little gallery of the cancelled Sony Ericsson G702, codenamed BeiBei, for you. This is - of course - a prototype, build AP 1.1. This gallery will also teach you a thing or two about how prototype boxes look, and what they contain. Only the most normal stuff, nothing fancy. Enjoy!

By the way… I’ll be taking a small vacation, and won’t be back till Thursday.

[thanks, Phoner]

Filed under: G series, Gallery, Prototype

Sony Ericsson recently selected Swedish mobile games developer and publisher GlobalFun as one of its two official content acquisition partner for the upcoming PlayNow Arena and Fun & Downloads services.

As of now, there are no official statements from Sony Ericsson, but a few from GlobalFun.

- We have since the beginning of our business aimed to provide our customers, of which Sony Ericsson is a highly valued one, with high quality premium content. This appointment serves for us as a proof that our strategy on content acquisition and account management has been and still is the correct one, says Bertil Krumnack, EVP Sales & Business Development at GlobalFun.

Also commenting on the deal was GlobalFun CEO, Marcus Johansson.

The trust that Sony Ericsson is showing us by appointing us as one of two content acquisition partners is very flattering. We will do our very best to exceed the expectations in this area and to continue to grow our mutual business, says Marcus.

In my opinion, Sony Ericsson could easily have picked a better games developer than GlobalFun. Sure, their games are okay, but there are many other developers out there that publish better games. A 5-year contract has been signed to ensure close cooperations between the two companies.

Filed under: Corporative, Fun, Games, News, Upcoming