Play blackjack for money

Despite Sony Ericsson’s rather obvious market difficulties, it has managed to keep its market share for the third quarter of 2008 at a consistent 8.2 percent, making Sony Ericsson the third largest mobile phone manufacturer by a margin.

The reason why Sony Ericsson has now joined the Top 3 doesn’t really have that much to do with Sony Ericsson itself but rather bad financial results from LG and Motorola that were both previously ahead of Sony Ericsson in terms of market share. Motorola’s Q3 market share is at 8.1 percent, while LG’s is at 7.4 percent.

Source: ABI Research

Filed under: Market, Market share, News

(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

 Loading ...

It would be impossible for me to do a comprehensive, technically detailed write-up of how Sony Ericsson turned the million Euro incomes to expenses, and I’m sure it’d be rather uninteresting for you as well. That’s why I’m not going to do that nor try to do it. I will, however, try to sum up what went wrong and how. As you’d expect, this rant will reflect nothing but my personal opinions and thoughts on Sony Ericsson’s past and current decisions, as well as what seems to be Sony Ericsson’s future plans. Also want you to know that I’m uncertain whether or not this piece is finished. I can’t make up my mind on whether I should add more to make it more clear, or leave it as it is, so apologies in advance if parts don’t make any sense to you.

The copy/paste-strategy

Sony Ericsson changed its product strategy a few years ago. The company saw huge advantages of making use of the same hardware and software platforms with only few minor changes. Initially, the strategy worked out very well - probably because it was still of limited use.
Sony Ericsson announced the rather amazing K750 back in very early March 2005. The K750 is one of Sony Ericsson’s most innovative phones ever, period. It was such an immense update from K700, and the camera - which was the most interesting feature about it - was built upon the camera of the S700, and greatly enhanced. I doubt it came as a surprise for K750 users when it was announced the best camera phone of the year. The K750 wasn’t one to miss, and sales surpassed all expectations. Continue reading “Someone needs a wakeup call…”

Filed under: Article, Corporative, Cyber-shot, Future, Market, Market share, Rants, Technology, Walkman

(27 votes, average: 4.07 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Mobile News International reports that Sony Ericsson has increased its UK share by 5 percent, to 25 percent, for the fourth week running. This makes Sony Ericsson the second largest handset manufacturer in the United Kingdom.

The five percent gain comes mainly from launch of the C902, which we’ve just published a review of, on contract, as well as cheaper phones, such as W350 and W380, on prepay. In addition to this, Sony Ericsson’s W580 and W910 are selling well on cheaper contracts.

According to Mobile News International’s sources, Sony Ericsson expanded too quickly, resulting in the release of many unneccessary phones. Last year, Sony Ericsson announced 15 phones more than the previous year. Sources claim each phone require over 100 extra engineering and marketing staff. This sounds like one of the most reasonable reasons as to why Sony Ericsson is looking to cut 2,000 employees.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see Sony Ericsson stepping up its game later this year. Sony Ericsson’s president, Hideki Komiyama, has officially said there’ll still be financial problems to a certain degree in Q3 this year, but Q4 should be different. Especially with the launch of such phones as C905, W595 and W902.

Source: Mobile News International

Filed under: Market share, News

(8 votes, average: 2.75 out of 5)

 Loading ...

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 “continued 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 net 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

(9 votes, average: 3.44 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Whenever Sony Ericsson releases a press release about the market sales and profits in advance of the actual press release with the final quarter results, we know something’s not going that great. And well, Sony Ericsson just released one of those press releases.

It basically states there’ll be market challenges, and that these have impacted Sony Ericsson’s sales and profit in second quarter 2008. Sony Ericsson’s estimated amount of shipped phones in Q2 is at approximately 24 million units, and the average selling price is expected to be at 115 euros. The net income before taxes is estimated to be about break-even. Sad news, indeed.

Sony Ericsson claims that its sales have been negatively affected by the moderating demand of mid/high-end phones, as well as delays of new products shipped during this quarter. What does this mean? More low-end phones for us - yay…!

The final results will be announced on July 18 at 7.30 AM UK time (that’s 8.30 AM CET).

Filed under: Corporative, Market, Market share

(5 votes, average: 3.40 out of 5)

 Loading ...