3G Phone Sales to Double in 2005: Sony Ericsson

February 10, 2005 - source: BWCS

Sony Ericsson says it believes that 2005 will see it sell more than double the number of 3G handsets it managed to shift in 2004. The company said in a statement released on Thursday that it expects 10% of its phones sold this year to be next generation mobile handsets, up from under 5% last year. In the statement, the Swedish-Japanese company's CEO, Miles Flint, said "3G will become increasingly important as the year progresses."

Sony Ericsson, which ranks sixth in the global league of handset suppliers, behind Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens and LG Electronics, is set to announce its 2005 strategy at the 3GSM industry shindig at Cannes, later this month. It is widely expected that the vendor will focus its sales push on mobile music, this year, dubbing 2005 the "Year of Music."

In terms of 3G phones Flint said "Although 3G sales amounted to less than 5% of the overall market in 2004, we expect this segment to come close to 10% of overall volumes during the year with further rapid expansion in 2006."

Dominant mobile handset maker Nokia agrees with this prognosis and has already said that 25% of its new handsets planned for 2005 will be 3G compatible.