GigaOM

In the highly competitive cellphone handset market it is becoming quite clear - the only way to profits is to have cool phones. Nokia’s recent troubles are directly related to their poorly designed and expensive phones. In comparison, Samsung, which continues to make cool phones and keeps them moderately priced continues to gain market share and beat expectations. Sony Ericsson, has taken the high road and is focusing only on premium and super premium phones and seeing the pay-off quite clearly. The handset joint venture reported its 1Q04 results and it continues to look brighter. Sony Ericsson’s sales and net income were €1.34B and €82M, respectively. Most impressive was the fact that the company shipped 8.8 million units shipped in the quarter. This was a 63% YOY increase and showed another competitor who gained share in the quarter besides Samsung — Moto and Nokia should be very worried.