Research firm Strategy Analytics says Sony Ericsson is now the world's third largest handset vendor in terms of dollar revenue. The handset JV, which reported $4.9 billion in revenue in 2006 beat out Samsung, which had $4.6 billion in revenue in 2006. This is the first time Sony Ericsson has ever attained a top three position. The firm also reported that global mobile phone shipments grew 25 percent year-over-year to reach an all-time record of 1 billion units in 2006--an industry milestone. Release