More doom and gloom from the handset people. After Nokia said it though the worldwide mobile phone market might shrink next year, Sony Ericsson has reported its profits have nosedived over the last quarter, its market share has dropped (enough to see it slip behind LG to number five in the biggest device makers) and a lower average selling price.

Sony Ericsson puts the slip down to a “slowing market growth in mid-to-high end phones in markets where Sony Ericsson has a strong presence”. At the same time, the company says it expects all the handsets that it announced previously but will sell in the next quarter will help make a difference in future – like the “high end” Xperia X1 and “high end” Walkman and HSDPA phones. If Sony Ericsson is having trouble shifting high end models and taking a profit hit, perhaps boasting about the slew of high end models coming soon is not the best way to rectify it?