Don’t slip in it.
Sony Ericsson is blaming component shortages and slowing demand for problems in their sales channel. My take on this news? Demand for Sony Ericsson phones is slipping, not overall demand. SE dumped a polished turd and some minor turdlets at CTIA this year and their phones are complex enough to scare people away yet not powerful enough to gain business converts. Nokia and Blackberry are eating their lunch on the low and high-end models and, along with Motorola, they keep rehashing the same stuff — Cybershot? Come on. RAZR XASS921? WTF? — every season.
I used to be a big S-E supporter. The P910 was a beast and outperformed the Treo in almost every way. The UI was great, the performance was incredible, and the product was tough. Fast forward to their recent announcements and they’ve completely left entry level phones to Nokia and high end phones to just about everyone else, leaving them with expensive smartphones aimed at average consumers that no one wants to buy. Even the T-Mo Dash is better than some of the pap coming out of S-E.
Sony Ericsson Warns: Mobile Phone Demand Softening [Barrons]