Once thought to be down and out, Sony Ericsson just announced its third profitable quarter in a row…and huge Android ambitions.
Sony Ericsson is in a very similar situation as Motorola (GOOG) in the U.S. Its share of the mobile phone market has been waning over the past five years and they need a savior. Just like Motorola, Sony Ericsson’s “all-in” with Android. Over the past year, that has lead to profitability.
SE reported fewer handsets sold year over year but increasing margins on brisk sales of its expensive Android flagship Xperia X10. Their ambitions for Android are even bigger. Currently, they lag behind Motorola, Samsung and HTC in Android production. But SE wants to be the biggest producer of Android phones in the world.
Bert Nordberg, President & CEO of Sony Ericsson said in a statement, “Our third consecutive quarter of profitable results illustrates that Sony Ericsson’s overall performance is stabilising. Our strategy to focus on the smartphone segment is succeeding and smartphones now comprise more than 50% of our total sales. During the quarter, we launched our Android-based Xperia™ models in new markets, such as China and the U.S., and it is our ambition to become the global number one handset provider on the Android platform.”
SE was absent from the Windows 7 Mobile launch last week and has already stated that it is moving away from Nokia’s Symbian OS, even though they have a strong past with both operating systems.
Sony (SNE), the parent company, is rumored to be readying a portable gaming platform based on Android and this week released HDTVs and BluRay players with Android-based GoogleTV built in.