Sony Ericsson's president steps down, apparently on good terms

Leaving analysts just a little baffled, Sony Ericsson president Miles Flint has stepped down after three years of fairly successful leadership. The consensus among members of the financial community seems to be that there's absolutely no way Flint was forced out; under his command, Sony Ericsson has seen consistent profitability and a steady increase in its market share (North America excepted, we might passive-aggressively note). The ex-prez says that he's looking to expand his horizons after 17 years under the Sony and Sony Ericsson brands, while Sony Electronics USA chairman Hideki Komiyama has been tapped to fill the huge shoes left behind. Analysts seem pretty convinced that he'll have a tough time doing any better than his predecessor, noting that low-end handsets seem like the next logical step to market share dominance despite the segment's virtually nonexistent margins. Might we recommend more North American love, Komiyama-san?

[Via mocoNews]

[AKBlade13 @ Sep 4th 2007 12:37PM]

I think people will agree with me when I say this is one of the most random resignations I have ever read about.

AKBlade13

[Zzephyr @ Sep 4th 2007 12:41PM]

"North America accepted", eh? OK, we accept it, then. Boyyya!

[Zzephyr @ Sep 4th 2007 12:54PM]

Oh sure, Engadget, go ahead and edit your err0r l@aden po$t, hence leaving my comment high and dry. Raspberries to you!

[Chris Ziegler @ Sep 4th 2007 12:56PM]

Ha! Sorry man, I must've posted the edit right after this comment - thanks for the catch, though!

Chris

[steve_straughn @ Sep 4th 2007 2:05PM]

SE made a profit during his reign i think

[Donald @ Sep 4th 2007 2:30PM]

They're actually doing surprisingly well in the North American carrier space - Rogers/Fido loves 'em to death and at&t seems to be getting on the ball with them.

[xbit @ Sep 4th 2007 2:32PM]

Getting out the CDMA market was the smartest thing SE ever did. They realised much earlier than Nokia that there was little return on investment in it for handset manufacturers. Sometimes having your fingers in all the pies isn't the best way to go about business.

Flint is going to be a tough act to follow.

[Jamar @ Sep 4th 2007 7:00PM]

Go look at SE Japan. They seem to be doing pretty well for themselves, and they've got a decent bunch of CDMA phones. In fact, it appears their Japanese Walkman phones are all CDMA. Says something, doesn't it? Like "if got what Japan got, SE wouldn't have needed to pull out of the CDMA market because business would be booming".

[Alan @ Sep 4th 2007 4:32PM]

Hey, why didn't Engadget turn this into an iphone related article?

[riordan_c @ Sep 4th 2007 5:57PM]

Yeah, k so he stepped down... as for important news, when will their Q3 releasings be? I'd be liking a k850 and an HGE-100 any day now.
kthxbye

[Aaron @ Sep 5th 2007 11:08AM]

Hear, hear! The K850i looks to be an awesome phone. Why is AT&T only carrying the old SE flip phone with a VGA camera? Why did AT&T stop selling the wonderful W810i? C'mon, SE.