Sony Ericsson followed Google in announced a strong start to 2007 with a 63% increase on the amount of handsets it shipped over last year and a 47% increase on sales over the same period in 2006.

The company has also reported a 139% rise on income before tax over last year to 362 million euros.

The company praises the Walkman range, including the new W880 for the increase in performance.

In total, Sony Ericsson shipped over 21.8 million handsets in the first three months, however the numbers are down 16.2% from 26 million in the fourth quarter of 2006.

“Sony Ericsson has made a very positive start to the year selling 63% more phones in the first quarter than a year ago. The strong sales and solid financial performance demonstrate a continuation of the momentum we established last year”, said Miles Flint, President of Sony Ericsson. “We have announced a number of exciting new products during the quarter many of which are already shipping and have been well received by consumers. The company continues to develop hit model products with a clear consumer proposition that appeals to operators, and then rapidly ramp-up volume to meet market demand”, he added.

Sony Ericsson forecasts that the 2007 global handset market will be above 1.1 billion units. The company believes that in Q1 2007 it grew market share around 2 percentage points compared with the same period last year to over 8%.