Sony Ericsson Sees 2008 as `Best Year Ever' in North America

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd., the world's fourth-largest maker of mobile phones, said 2008 will be its ``best year ever'' in North America.

``The last couple of years have been phenomenal,'' Najmi Jarwala, head of Sony Ericsson in North America, said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. ``We're bringing the largest portfolio of devices to this part of the world.''

Sony Ericsson, which built its success on high-end handsets, is selling simpler models to win market share from Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc. London-based Sony Ericsson's sales in the Americas region surged 37 percent to 573 million euros ($847 million) in the third quarter of 2007, making up 18 percent of total revenue.

``It is our ambition over the next few years to become part of the top three handset manufacturers,'' Jarwala said. ``We absolutely realize that we can't achieve that ambition, we can't be a global player, without being successful in the U.S.''

Nokia, the largest handset manufacturer, had 38.1 percent market share in the third quarter, followed by Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co., at 14.5 percent, researcher Gartner Inc. said on Nov. 27. Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois ranked third at 13.1 percent, while Sony Ericsson had an 8.8 percent share.

``We're putting a lot of investment in being successful in this market and 2008 is the year when a lot of that comes together in terms of the breadth and diversity of the portfolio,'' Jarwala said.

Sony-Ericsson is a 50-50 venture between Stockholm-based Ericsson AB and Tokyo-based Sony Corp.

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