Sony Ericsson Q3 still negative

Sony Ericsson today reported largely poor results for its summer quarter. The cellphone maker shipped 14.1 million phones during the three-month span; the number is an increase from 13.8 million in the spring but a sharp 45.1 percent drop from summer a year earlier. It successfully reduced the rate at which it has bled money down to a $244.7 million loss versus $317.8 million in spring but also saw some of its lowest revenue in recent memory, dropping slightly season-to-season to $2.4 billion but still far from nearly $4.2 billion a year earlier.

The company has gone so far as to get $678.8 million in outside funding to ensure it stays in business and says it has just under $1.3 billion in cash.

Chief executive Hideki Komiyama is nonetheless optimistic in his view and notes that some of Sony Ericsson's chronic problems, including an excess inventory of phones, have finally been addressed and are starting to turn around the ailing firm.

The fall is expected to be Sony Ericsson's most important quarter this year as it represents the company's first concerted effort to return to high-end phones after the poor uptake of the XPERIA X1. It has just launched the smartphone-class Satio, is about to launch the XPERIA X2 with Windows Mobile, and has also brought touchscreens to its regular phones for the first time through the Aino. Leaks have pointed to its first Android phone, the XPERIA X3, arriving early next year.

The absence of modern smartphones is believed to have cost Sony Ericsson converts to other platforms, especially media friendly devices like the iPhone and some BlackBerries.

By Electronista Staff