Quake still rattles Sony Ericsson

15 July 2011 Last updated at 09:37 GMT Android smartphones are central to Sony Ericsson's line-up Sony Ericsson has blamed the the Japanese earthquake for a 50m euro (?44m; $71m) loss during the three months to June.

The mobile phone maker said the quake last March had caused "supply chain constraints", which meant that about 1.5m phones were not ready for sale.

Smartphones now make up more than 70% of Sony Ericsson's total sales, up from just 40% at the end of last year.

Sales of smartphones using Google's Android operating system grew 150%.

Sony Ericsson estimates that it now has an 11% share of the Android smartphone market - by both value and volume.

During the first quarter of the year, Sony Ericsson had managed to achieve net profits of 11m euro, but on an extremely slim operating margin of just 2%.

During the past few years the mobile phone firm has seen a steady erosion of its share of the mobile phone market, losing out to Apple with its iPhone models and quickly growing Asian rivals like Samsung and HTC.

The company has gone through a cost-cutting exercise, including making 4,000 staff redundant.

Sony Ericsson is a 50-50 joint venture of Japanese entertainment electronics firm Sony and Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson.

Ericsson's shares fell 1.3% on news of Sony Ericsson's losses.

View the original article here

Still fighting

30 June 2011 Last updated at 17:30 GMT By Chris Morris BBC News, Athens Many of the protesters have been normal citizens - not anarchists There was a cartoon in a Greek newspaper this week that showed a partially hidden hand pointing a large gun at the head of a man with a face full of resignation.

"Austerity plan or bankruptcy?" he is asked.

"Just shoot," he says.

It is true that it is hard to find a good option for Greece at the moment. But such fatalism is not yet taking hold.

Greeks are still prepared to fight.

Forget for a moment the violent protests of a hard core determined to cause trouble. Petrol bombs and tear gas outside parliament understandably tend to make headlines.

But it is the quiet anger of much larger numbers of people, who have already seen their living standards fall dramatically, which is of greater long-term significance.

"We can't just lay down and die," said a woman named Eva, standing on Syntagma Square in the early hours of the morning with a small group of friends. "We have to come here to say this plan is wrong. It's not helping."

And that is the problem for the policy wonks and the politicians.

Public legitimacy has to be part of the process.

The protesters on the streets were not just anarchists in black T-shirts and communists carrying red flags.

They were small-businessmen and women; they were lower middle-class professionals; they were disarmingly normal.

There may be greater understanding now that an immediate default in Greece would be chaotic, and possibly as catastrophic as the Prime Minister George Papandreou warns.

But both Greek and European leaders need to make more effort to persuade people that even if the tunnel is long and dark, there is some kind of light at the end of it.

Rolling confrontations?

Several things were confirmed this week.

The Greek government has, for now, a narrow majority in parliament for pushing ahead with its austerity plans - mainly on the basis that the alternatives would be even worse.A large section of the Greek people are close to the limit of what they are prepared to withstand. And that's even before any of the new measures kick in. Expect further protests.European leaders are worried sick and occasionally prone to statements that sound rather too much like panic for comfort. They are working hard on much longer-term finance for Greece, but no-one has a magic wand.And the markets? Well they clearly believe that Greece will eventually default on its debts, there is no way they can all be repaid. This is all about buying time, and shoring up defences.

So where does Greece go from here?

Let's assume that international financial backing continues.

Every three months inspectors from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive to review progress in implementing austerity and economic restructuring.

Continue reading the main story

Now it's all being done on the basis of a diktat imposed from outside, and that is what is causing confrontation”

End Quote John Psaropoulos Former newspaper editor And why not? It is, after all, their money. But it feels like a recipe for a series of rolling confrontations - a debilitating process.

Perhaps if Greece's two main political parties could have buried their differences when this crisis was beginning 18 months ago, far more progress could have been made.

"They could have jointly decided to depoliticise the public sector," says John Psaropoulos, who edited the Athens News for 10 years.

"There could have been consensus on how many civil servants to dismiss and which parts of utility companies to streamline or privatise."

"Now it's all being done on the basis of a diktat imposed from outside, and that is what is causing confrontation."

Little wonder then that one of Christine Lagarde's first public comments after being confirmed as the new head of the IMF was an appeal for greater political unity in Greece.

It would immediately give the country more credibility abroad, and a broader base of support at home for implementing reforms that will continue to be opposed by many of the country's 800,000 public employees.

It could also produce more bargaining power to argue that the balance between enforcing austerity and encouraging growth needs to be tweaked a bit.

So after a difficult and dramatic couple of weeks in Greece - with knife-edge parliamentary votes, strikes, protests, riots and dire warnings from all and sundry - that is my prediction: some kind of national unity government within the next 12 months.

It may be the only way that all this can possibly work.

View the original article here

Still special?

By John Sinnott
BBC Sport Villas-Boas' Porto won four trophies last season Former AC Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi, who never played football professionally, once famously remarked when quizzed about his coaching qualifications: "I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first."

Porto coach Andre Villas-Boas never played football professionally either - instead devoting himself at an early age to studying the science of coaching.

By the time he was 17, he was already attending Uefa coaching courses at the Scottish Football Association's renowned Largs centre.

If he was a coaching prodigy, Villas-Boas was also a risk taker, taking charge of the British Virgin Islands for two international matches in 2000. Both ended in defeat.

Two years later, Villas-Boas became part of Jose Mourinho's backroom staff at Porto, following him to Chelsea and then Inter Milan. His scouting reports were legendary for the detail he provided about the opposition.

In 2009, Villas-Boas moved out of Mourinho's shadow, landing his first coaching job at Academica in Portugal's top flight.

When he was appointed in October, the club were bottom of the table and without a win. By the end of the season, Villas-Boas had led Academica to league safety and a League Cup semi-final.

Continue reading the main story 1977: Born in Porto. He has an English grandmother and boasts a count and a baron among his relatives1994: Invited to work as a trainee with FC Porto's youth-team coaches by manager Sir Bobby Robson2000: Became the youngest international team manager as British Virgin Islands boss2002-2009: Worked under Jose Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan2009: Appointed Academica coach2010: Appointed Porto coach

Porto president Pinto da Costa has previously said that appointing Villas-Boas as the club's coach was a gamble - but it was one that paid off spectacularly.

Last season, Porto won the Portuguese Supercup, the league by a margin of 21 points without losing a game, the Europa League with a 1-0 victory against compatriots Braga and the Portuguese Cup, thumping Vitoria de Guimaraes 6-2.

"When you start off working at such an early age, you can't hide behind the name of being a former professional," top European scout Tor-Kristian Karlsen told BBC Sport.

"You have to continously impress and succeed and the only way you do that is by having an edge.

"That means you have to be extra meticulous and theoretically strong. I also think it is much easier to assimilate academic and theoretical ideas when you are younger than than when you move into management after a playing career."

Karlsen also believes the 33-year-old's backroom experience at top European clubs - just as Mourinho worked under Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona - has been key to his meteoric rise.

"That background has given them both a real edge as coaches," added Karlsen.

"They have been able to work in the background of really top clubs where they have been given an awful lot of responsibility.

"Neither Mourinho nor Villas-Boas would have been just moving cones. They would have been learning about people and how to deal with egos. That is not knowledge that you acquire from reading a book - you only get from that dealing with real-life situations."

Villas-Boas has also been linked with Inter Milan

So what can Chelsea fans expect if Villas-Boas does take up Chelsea's offer?

"Probably a continuation of the 4-3-3 favoured under Mourinho and, broadly, Carlo Ancelotti, but a much more attack-minded approach than Mourinho," said Michael Cox, editor of the online blog Zonal Marking.

"In the press conference after the Europa League final in Dublin, Villas-Boas paid tribute to Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, saying how much he admires the style of football at Barca and also almost apologised for winning that final in a scrappy game, saying he wanted to put on a show."

There is a brutal efficiency about Porto - the defensive organisation, the tempo of play, the speed of transition to attack. It is as if the players are almost remotely controlled by Villas-Boas.

But with the exception of the gifted Colombian striker Falcao, there is not much beauty on offer - Porto have ruthlessly demolished the opposition at home and abroad.

"Compared to Mourinho, Villas-Boas is certainly more attacking. It is functional in that is based on collective movements and patterns, but there is room for improvisation and freedom," added Karlsen.

"If you are going to be successful with a team that has lots of South American players, you have to be flexible. It is not necessarily Guardiolaesque, but it is more positive.

"Compared to Mourinho, Villas-Boas is less about show and deflecting attention. But he is also very reflective and full of interesting ideas."

Villas-Boas' coaching pedigree suggests he will be successful wherever he goes. The question is whether he can replicate Barca's style, which he says he so admires, with the next club he manages.

View the original article here