A profit warning issued by the world's fourth-largest motile telephone manufacturer Sony Ericsson on Wednesday led to a decline in the share price of the Finnish mobile phone giant. Nokia as well.
Nokia's share price fell by nearly six per cent. Ericsson's by almost eight per cent. Market reactions indicate that the Sony Ericsson result warning was seen as a result of a sharper-than-expected decline in mobile handset sales in Europe.
European sales have been affected by slower economic growth and the uncertainty caused by economic problems in the United States.
The news is seen as an indicator of slower growth in third generation handsets in Europe.
The biggest seller of 3G handsets in the world is Nokia. It's main supplier of microchips, Texas Instruments, issued a profit warning last week, because one of its key customers had ordered fewer 3G chips than expected in March.
Market analysts assumed that the unnamed customer was Nokia, whose share price dipped by up to seven per cent following the TI result warning.
Nokia sold the greatest number of mobile telephones late last year, giving it a market share of 44 per cent. Samsung was in second place with a 19 per cent market share.
