In the current economic crisis it’s pretty easy to turn to the default financial climate, decreasing retailer inventories and “weak consumer demand” when things aren’t going great. Well, it’s certainly easier than talking about your lackluster product line, aging designs and your penchant for rehashing old models in favor of variation and innovation. But we digress. Sony Ericsson revealed today that Q1 will most definitely not be the quarter it turns things around and slows its current sales tumble. In fact, it’s looking at a loss in the neighborhood of €340-€390 million ($459 million-$526 million). Still number four in terms of global market share for the time being, the company expects to sell only 14 million handsets between January and March of this year — down from 24.2 million in Q4 2008. That’s no typo; the company expects to sell 10 million fewer handsets in Q1 2009 than it did in the previous quarter. While that figure is horrifying, it certainly goes a great length in explaining why Ericsson might want out of the JV.
[Via Reuters]
