What’s the Swedish phrase for “we’re screwed”? Quick, someone ask Sony Ericsson, it must know.
Right, so Sony Ericsson said today that its second quarter pre-tax net income and sales would be “negatively affected by moderating demand of mid-to-high end mobile phone.” It seems people would rather spend their dollars and euros and pounds (oh my!) on actual necessities rather than on flashy cellphones that are more status symbol than anything else. Remember: if all you need is a phone, those cheap/free phones that come with most plans work just as well as the shiny, expensive ones given to celebrities to tote around.
Barron’s also notes that RIM and Palm had rather dismal numbers for the second quarter, too, so it could be an industry-wide slowdown rather than merely a Sony Ericsson problem.