Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications reported a surge in first-quarter profits Thursday, helped by a large increase in the number of phones it shipped.Sony Ericsson said it shipped 13.3 million phones during the quarter, a 41 percent increase over the same period last year. The number of phones shipped was down compared to the fourth quarter, which typically spikes due to the holiday season.Sales in the first quarter grew 55 percent to 1.99 billion euros (US$2.4 billion) compared to the first quarter last year, and net income more than tripled, reaching 109 million euros compared to 32 million a year earlier, Sony Ericsson said. The company credited the volume of new products released during the quarter for the growth. The vendor introduced three Walkman phones and its first camera phone sporting Sony’s Cyber-shot brand. Sony Ericsson also reported that the average selling price of its phones rose to 149 euros, compared to 144 euros during the fourth quarter last year. The increase follows a similar growth in average selling price at Nokia, which announced earlier this week that the average price of its phones during the quarter was 103 euros, rather than the 99 euros or less it had expected. Sony Ericsson expects growth in the global handset market to continue to beat previous expectations, predicting that 900 million phones will sell globally in 2006. That’s up from the phone maker’s forecast of 10 percent growth on the 780 million phones sold in 2005. Sony Ericsson is in fifth place among mobile phone vendors, trailing behind Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.-Nancy Gohring, IDG News ServiceCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Freshworks When your AI chatbots mess up AI ‘hallucinations’ present significant business risks, but new types of guardrails can keep them from doing serious damage By Paul Gillin Dec 08, 2023 4 mins Generative AI brandpost Sponsored by Dell New research: How IT leaders drive business benefits by accelerating device refresh strategies Security leaders have particular concerns that older devices are more vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. By Laura McEwan Dec 08, 2023 3 mins Infrastructure Management case study Toyota transforms IT service desk with gen AI To help promote insourcing and quality control, Toyota Motor North America is leveraging generative AI for HR and IT service desk requests. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 08, 2023 7 mins Employee Experience Employee Experience Employee Experience feature CSM certification: Costs, requirements, and all you need to know The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification sets the standard for establishing Scrum theory, developing practical applications and rules, and leading teams and stakeholders through the development process. By Moira Alexander Dec 08, 2023 8 mins Certifications IT Skills Project Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe