Sony Ericsson Posts Profitable Quarter

Sony Ericsson continued to dig its way out of a long period of unprofitability Friday as it reported its second quarterly profit in a row on strong sales of its entertainment-oriented mobile phones.

The turnaround was also helped by layoffs of 4,000 employees.

The company logged a $15 million profit in the second quarter compared with a $275 million loss in the like quarter last year. After several money-losing quarters, the company -- a combine of Japan's Sony Corp. and Sweden's L. M. Ericsson -- regrouped and focused on Sony's handset strengths in music players and cameras.

"Our second quarter results show that the company continued the momentum seen in the first quarter as a result of our focus on the value market and success of new smartphones," said Bert Nordberg, Sony Ericsson president, in a statement. The success stories he pointed to included the Xperia X10 and Vivaz, which were launched in the first quarter.

"The Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro which started shipping at the end of the second quarter have been well received," he said, adding that the company is "now well positioned for long term growth."

The company said its transformation program, begun in mid-2008, is now in its final stages and is on target to reduce annual operating expenses significantly by the end of the year. The firm's workforce is now about 7,800 -- down from a high of about 12,000.

The company reiterated that its vision is to become the industry leader in communication entertainment "where new styles of communication through the Internet and social media become entertainment."