Sony Ericsson slashes 2,000 jobs
But new Idou 12MP camera phone is coming this year
Sony Ericsson has unsurprisingly posted some grim financial results for Q1 2009 and has decided to shed more staff as a result.
Every element on the report showed a decline for the Swedish-Japanese alliance, with one of the major talking points a 35 per cent decrease in sales year on year down from 22.3 million handsets in 2008 to 14.5 million in Q1 2009.
SE put this down to "a result of continued weak consumer confidence and de-stocking in the retail and distribution channels," which hardly fills anyone with confidence of a quick rebound.
Other poor results included a depreciation of sales from €2,702 (£2,384) down to €1,736 (£1,532) in 2009, and restructuring charges (largely due to already shedding 2,000 jobs) costing €12 million.
It's Entertainment Jim, but not as we know it
But if you're looking for a ray of good news amid the frenzy of Sony Ericsson doom and gloom then there was a mention of the new Idou 12MP camera phone, which is tipped to be landing in the second half of this year.
And if that's too long to wait for you, then get ready for an EU announcement on the 28 May... hopefully a release date and some review samples to go along with the hands-on we brought you earlier this year.
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"As expected, the first quarter of this year has been extremely challenging for Sony Ericsson due to continued weak global demand.We are aligning our business to the new market reality with the aim of bringing the company back to profitability as quickly as possible," said Dick Komiyama, President of Sony Ericsson, by way of explanation.
Read the Sony Ericsson release here.
Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grew with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.