Troubled handset JV Sony Ericsson has announced that president Dick Komiyama is to be replaced by Ericsson executive Bert Nordberg.
Komiyama will retire at the end of the year, but Nordberg will join as co-president from September 1 and take over as president from October 15.
Nordberg is currently executive VP of Ericsson and also head of Ericsson Silicon Valley.
Sony CEO and chairman Howard Stringer will take over as chairman of the board, replacing outgoing Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg, who will become chairman of BP in January.
“Bert Nordberg has a strong track-record in the area of business realignment and was instrumental in the transformation of Ericsson in the years 2002-2003,” Svanberg said.
Speculation has been rife that the recent reversal of fortune of the handset manufacturer could lead to the dissolution of the JV, yet both parties say they are committed to the entity. Sony Ericsson recently delivered a loss of €283 million and forecast that there would be continued contraction in the handset market of 10%.
In a report last week Gartner said Sony Ericsson’s global market share has fallen to 4.7%.
