Sony Ericsson today announced great earnings growth for the fourth quarter of 2005. The quarter was boosted by strong sales of its Walkman branded phones (the W series) and that trend should continue through 2006 as more of the models start to hit store shelves.

Key figures from the quarter:

• $174.3 million in net profit, up 260%
• $2.88 billion in revenue, up 15%
• Average price per phone dropped 10% to $173

By market share Sony Ericsson is still number five with 16.1 million handsets sold in the quarter. Three million of those handsets were Walkman branded.