(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Sony Ericsson saw growing profits and market share in the second quarter but said the average selling price of its handsets continued to fall.
The joint venture between Sweden's Ericsson and Japan's Sony said net profit rose 54% to 220 million euros ($303 million) from 143 million euros in the same period last year.
Sales grew 37% to 3.1 billion euros ($4.3 billion) from 2.3 billion euros in the second quarter of 2006.
Sony Ericsson said it shipped 24.9 million handsets in the quarter, up 59% from the year-ago period, helping push its global market share 3 percentage points to above 9%.
The world's top handset makers are Nokia, Motorola and Samsung.
Motorola warned Wednesday of a shortfall in second-quarter revenue due to weaker-than-expected sales and poor results in its mobile phone units in Asia and Europe.
Sony Ericsson expects to keep gaining market share as it broadens its product range from high-end phones to low- and mid-tier handsets.
Company CEO Miles Flint said the second-quarter results 'reflect our direction to build our brand in key imaging, music and multimedia categories with a portfolio that includes more competitively priced phones.'
Meanwhile, the closely watched average selling price of Sony Ericsson handsets fell to 124 euros ($170) in the second quarter, from 145 euros in the year-ago period and 134 euros in the first quarter of 2007.
'It is good that they are increasing market share, but it's happening at the expense of margins and average prices going down,' said Greger Johansson, of Redeye in Stockholm. 'They are focusing a bit more on cheaper phones, but they have also boosted costs by spending more on research and marketing.'
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