The head of Sony Ericsson’s North American operations, Najmi Jarwala, is to step down from his post at the end of March.

Jarwala, who is also president of Sony Ericsson USA, as well as looking after the US and Canadian markets, makes his move it the wake of significant layoffs at the firm.

The Japanese-Swedish mobile handset vendor reported a net loss of Eur73m for 2008, down from a profit of Eur1.1bn in the previous year. Handset shipments spiralled down from 103.4 million in 2007 to 96.6 million in 2008, as the credit crunch hit home and consumer demand for new devices dried up.

The crucial Christmas period, which historically sees large numbers of handset shipments, was hit particularly hard in 2008, with Sony Ericsson moving just 24.2 million devices, compared to 30.8 million in the same period a year earlier.

A separate announcement regarding Najmi’s successor in his dual role will be made in due course, but in the interim Anders Runevad, executive VP of Sony Ericsson and head of global sales & marketing, will take on Jarwala’s responsibilities.