14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Ericsson has made official its financial results for the fourth quarter of last year, announcing a loss of 247 million euros for the timeframe.
In the three-month period, the company shipped a number of 9 million handsets, marking a decrease of 20 percent when compared to the same period the year before, and a decrease of 5 percent compared to the previous quarter.
In the timeframe, the company shipped a smaller number of feature phones, but increased the smartphone shipments.
The handset vendor posted a 65 percent year-on-year increase in Android-based Xperia smartphone quarterly sales. It also announced a total number of 28 million Xperia smartphones shipped to date.
Sony Ericsson registered Euro 1.3 billion in sales in the three-month period, a decline of 16 percent from the previous year and of 19 percent from the previous quarter.
The average selling price (ASP) for the quarter was Euro 143, marking an increase of 5 percent when compared to the same quarter the year before, yet representing a 14 percent decrease from the previous quarter.
The company blames the decrease in ASP on geographic and product mix, and on lower price tags for older products.
The handset vendor also notes that its fourth quarter performance was deeply impacted by the flooding in Thailand in late October and early November 2011.
“Our fourth quarter results reflected intense competition, unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and the effects of a natural disaster in Thailand this quarter,” Bert Nordberg, president and CEO of Sony Ericsson, commented.
“We are aligning our business to drive profitability and to meet customer needs. In spite of these challenges, throughout 2011 we’ve shifted our business from feature phones to smartphones, and our Android-based smartphone sales in the quarter increased by 65% year-on-year.
“The Xperia portfolio, including the recently announced Xperia NXT series, will serve as a cornerstone of our smartphone lineup in 2012.”