Sony Ericsson onto a good thing

Sony Ericsson looks to have hit the sweet spot by attaching the Cyber-shot and Walkman brands of its Japanese parent to its mid and high end phones.

The mobile phone manufacturer on Thursday reported that net income for the third quarter almost tripled over the past year, shooting up to Eur298m (£201m), compared to Eur104m a year ago.

Unit sales were also up 43 per cent year on year with the company shifting 19.8 million devices, while revenues increased 42 per cent to Eur2.9bn.

Sony Ericsson president, Miles Flint, obviously ecstatic with the results, said that the company’s strategy “of using flagship products.such as imaging with the Cyber-shot megapixel camera phone or music with the Walkman line-up is creating a halo effect over lower-end models in the same category”.

Ovum analyst Martin Garner said: “With year on year volumes growing roughly twice as fast as the market, Sony Ericsson has clearly gained market share – 1 per cent by its estimate.”

Garnet also thinks the company knows a good thing when it sees it and believes the joint branding strategy has further to go. “Look out for the Bravia TV phone in due course, and possibly the Vaio enterprise phone,” he said.