14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese-Swedish mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson is set to bring to the market more smartphones than before, the company has just announced.
During their third-quarter 2011 earnings call, the company said that smartphones already are an important part of their business, and that they might soon take over their entire lineup.
During the third quarter of the year, the company has seen its sales went down by 9 percent when compared to the same quarter a year ago, mainly due to slow sales of feature phones.
The company sold 9.5 million units in the time frame, which was 25 percent more than during the second quarter of the year, mainly courtesy of an increased number of shipped smartphones.
“We delivered a solid 73 million Euro improvement in income before taxes as we rebounded from the previous quarter with a 33 percent increase in sales,” Bert Nordberg, President and CEO of Sony Ericsson commented.
“Android-based Xperia smartphone sales now account for more than 80 percent of sales and we have shipped 22 million Xperia smartphones to date. We will continue to invest in the smartphone market, shifting the entire portfolio to smartphones during 2012.”
The handset vendor also announced that the average selling price for the quarter was Euro 166, marking an 8 percent increase when compared to the same quarter a year ago, and a 6 percent growth from the previous quarter.
The mobile phone maker also announced that sales for the quarter remained flat at around Euro 1.6 billion when compared to the third quarter of 2010.
“The gross margin percentage for the quarter was 27%, a decrease of 3 percentage points year-on-year and 4 percentage points from the previous quarter,” the company noted.
Sony Ericsson posted income before taxes of Euro 31 million for the third quarter of the ongoing year, with is much lower than the income before taxes of Euro 62 million is reported a year ago.
“Net income during the quarter improved by Euro 50 million sequentially, while net income decreased by Euro 49 million year-on-year,” the company announced.
The handset vendor also noted that its market share in the Android smartphone market was of around 12 percent in volume, and of about 11 percent in value.