Sony Ericsson may have some exciting phones in its roster of devices, but that's apparently not enough to convince consumers to buy. Today, Sony Ericsson warned that it might, might, sell half as many phones this quarter as it did last quarter. With sales that bad, who can blame Ericsson for wanting to erase its name from Sony Ericsson.To be fair, Sony Ericsson isn't alone here. With the world economy as it is, it's little wonder that Sony Ericsson is reporting weaker than expected sales. Mobile phone companies across the board are suffering, even the behemoth Nokia, which this week announced layoffs due to slackening demand for phones.

Palm is suffering, too, though for a somewhat different reason. Consumers are skipping on purchasing new Palm hardware because the Pre will be released in the coming months. Palm marks its seventh consecutive loss this quarter. Ouch.

Motorola hasn't coughed up numbers for the latest quarter yet, but if it follows the trends across the industry, they won't be pretty.

According to Reuters, Sony Ericsson will sell about 14 million phones in the January to March quarter. That's well below expectations, which predicted SE would sell between 15.5 and 21.8 million phones. The poor sales figures will be reflected in earnings. SE is expecting to announce a loss of between $460 and $525 million for the quarter.

Ericsson obviously saw this coming, which is why it has approached Sony about a buy-out. Without the funding to acquire Ericsson's 50% stake in the joint venture, Sony Ericsson's future is a bit cloudy at the moment.