STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. announced first-quarter results that were down significantly from the previous quarter, but more than triple its earnings from the same quarter last year. Sony Ericsson earned about $132 million in the first quarter, down from $174 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, but far beyond the $39 million it earned in first quarter last year.
Najmi Jarwala, Sony Ericsson’s president for the United States and Canada, attributed the sequential drop in earnings from fourth-quarter 2005 to first-quarter 2006 to the handset business’ traditional seasonality—that is, strong fourth-quarter, holiday-related sales with a precipitous drop expected in first-quarter numbers. Jarwala said the impressive quarter-on-quarter growth from last year to this year was due to its expanded portfolio of handsets at all price points. The company is best known for its Walkman-branded music phones and its Cyber-shot camera phones, both based on Sony Corp.’s heritage in consumer electronics.
Sony Ericsson is a London-based, five-year old joint venture between Japan-based Sony Corp. and Swedish infrastructure vendor L.M. Ericsson, which focuses on handsets built only for the GSM air interface.
Sony Ericsson shipped 13.3 million handsets in the first quarter, down from the 16.1 million shipped in fourth quarter, but up significantly from the 9.4 million handsets it shipped in first-quarter 2005. The company’s average selling price rose 4 percent to $180.
