Sony Ericsson warned on Friday cellphone market recovery could be slower than analysts expect as the venture reported its seventh straight quarterly loss. Handset makers and chip firms globally had a grim time through 2009 as the global downturn made consumers hold back on buying gadgets.

With improving economies, analysts and the top phone maker Nokia are forecasting market volumes rising to around 10 percent this year, but Sony Ericsson warned there would be only slight growth on the market. "The global handset outlook for 2010 is improving but still a little uncertain in parts, so Sony Ericsson has some justification in forecasting cautious growth in unit volumes this year," said analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.

Sony Ericsson, owned by Sweden's Ericsson and Japan's Sony Corp, reported a quarterly pretax loss of 190 million euros ($270 million). That nearly matched a forecast in a Reuters poll for a 194 million euro loss and would have been better had the firm not taken larger than expected restructuring charges.

Copyright Reuters, 2010