Sony Ericsson gets new CEO to rescue firm
updated 08:40 am EDT, Mon August 17, 2009
Sony Ericsson Gets New CEO
Sony Ericsson this morning set in motion a significant change in its strategy with news that its existing CEO Hideki Komiyama is being replaced. The executive will retire at the end of the year and is being replaced by Ericsson's Bert Nordberg on October 15th. The Swedish official specializes in "business realignment" and was responsible for growing that telecom company's business earlier this decade.
Additionally, Sony chief Sir Howard Stringer is joining Sony Ericsson's board of directors as Ericsson's own leader Carl-Henric Svanberg is leaving the board to chair BP at the start of 2010.
Both moves are believed part of a reaction to the company's continuing rapid slide in sales and market share that saw it ship 43 percent fewer phones and post a $300.5 million loss just in its most recent quarter. Sony Ericsson has held on to its fifth place ranking but has shed much of its share to Korean rivals LG and Samsung as well as those upgrading to smartphones from Apple, RIM and others.
Most of Sony Ericsson's hopes for recovery are pinned on the fall launch of the Symbian-based Satio as well as the Aino, the widely leaked XPERIA X2 and the Android-based Rachael, also believed to fit in the XPERIA line. Aside from last year's XPERIA X1, the company has had virtually no smartphones in recent years.
