The world’s six largest handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson revealed first quarter sales were down by 19 per cent year-on-year to €1.1 billion due to its supply chain being disrupted by the Japan earthquake.
The Swedish-Japanese phonemaker shipped just over eight million units in the three-month period ending 31 March, a 23 per cent decrease from 10.5 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
According to the joint venture, this was due to a decline in the “number of feature phones shipped, the introduction of new products towards the end of the quarter and seasonality.” However, the average cost of a Sony Ericsson handset has increased in the past 12 months by five per cent from €134 to €141.
Sony Ericsson posted a pre-tax profit of €15 million, 17 per cent down from the same time last year. Bert Nordberg, President & CEO of Sony Ericsson attributes its Q1 profit to the company’s decision to move towards an Android-based smartphone strategy, which comprised three out of every five handsets sold last quarter.
“However, the Japan earthquake made it a challenging quarter operationally and we are experiencing some disruptions to our supply chain,” added Nordberg.
Yet, Sony Ericsson remains optimistic, expecting modest growth in total units in the global handset market for 2011.
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