Sony Ericsson reported their third quarter 2011 results today, which are in a bit of a slump compared to last year, but way better than Q2 at least. Unit shipments for the quarter sit at 9.5 million, which is up from 7.6 in Q2, but down from 10.4 in Q3 last year. Net income was nil, but that’s better than losing 50 million Euros like last quarter. You can dive into all of the hard numbers in this PDF.
Sony Ericsson reported that they had sold 22 million Xperia handsets to date, and that they’re aiming to transition their entire product line to smartphones in 2012. Apparently during the conference call, CEO Bert Nordberg also mentioned that PlayStation certification is coming to Xperia handsets other than the Play. That’s a smart move, considering the brand power and content archive available for Sony’s console gaming business.
It’ll be interesting if Sony eventually buys out Ericsson’s stake in the joint venture; I would expect that such a move would enable tighter integration in Xperia phones with Sony properties beyond just PlayStation. Sony has footholds in music, video, TVs, stereo systems, cameras… Given, they’re already leveraging a lot of that in their Android smartphones, having the mobile business entirely under their wing would give them a greater degree of control over the process. What do you guys think – would Sony taking the reigns get Xperia phones up to the caliber of HTC, Samsung, and LG?
