Sony Ericsson reported its first quarterly profit since 2008. Reporting a profit of 21 million euro for Q1 2010, Sony Ericsson surely hopes this represents the end of a dismal year which saw them lose 293 million euro in the first quarter of ‘09.
But the boost in profits is really just the silver lining, as it all comes from reorganized business activity and other cost savings and not from greater sales. In fact, SE reported a 38% drop in units shipped (10.5 million vs. 14.5 million in Q1 09) and a 23% drop in sales, but noted a 31% gross margin, up almost 400% since Q1 09.
Sony Ericsson has steadily lost market share over the past year as smartphones became the hottest selling phones. While initially praised for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, SE’s follow-up, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2, was a bit of a disappointment. Sony Ericsson is just launching the new SE Xperia X10 running Android, as well as a Symbian-based device called Vivaz, but who knows if this diversification will result in more handset sales.
You can only trim so much…
[via]
