LEADING mobile phone manufacturer, Sony Ericsson, has released its set of results for the last quarter of 2008 where it said the global economic recession led to a reduction of consumer demand for its appliances.
The company, which has a significant customer base in the continent, said owing to the setback, it had recorded a six percent reduction in mobile phones sold throughout the world.
“Units shipped in the quarter were 24.2 million, a sequential decrease of six percent and a year-on-year decrease of 21 percent. Sales for the quarter were Euro 2,914 million, an increase of four percent sequentially due to a positive impact of currency fluctuations, and a decrease of 23 percent compared to Q4 (fourth quarter) 2007.
“The decline in sales year-on-year was driven by lower volumes, due to the global economic slowdown that resulted in contracting consumer demand and decreased availability of credit,” said Dick Komiyama, President of Sony Ericsson.
He added, “In economic terms, 2008 has been a tumultuous year with world markets experiencing a serious downturn. The mobile phone market has been greatly affected by this and as expected, the fourth quarter continued to be very challenging for Sony Ericsson.”
Komiyama however highlighted some positives recorded during the period.
“In Q4 2008, the successful roll out of the Xperia X1 and Cyber-shot C905, Sony Ericsson’s first eight mega pixel phone as well as the PlayNow plus music service positively impacted the business. In
the same quarter, Sony Ericsson announced that it joined the Open Handset Alliance and is currently developing a new phone that uses the Android Open Source software,” he said.
Earlier in 2008, Sony Ericsson announced that it became a founding member of the Symbian Foundation, an initiative that will create an open mobile software platform based on Symbian OS.
Sony Ericsson is a top, global industry player with sales of around 97 million phones in 2008. It has operations in over 80 countries and manufacturing sites in China, Europe, India, Japan and North America.
It was established as a 50:50 joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in October 2001, with global corporate functions located in London–ITNewsAfrica.
