Incoming Sony Corp. CEO Kazuo Hirai better buckle up: he is in for one bumpy ride, as the company reports that they are headed for a greater than expected $2.9 billion annual loss.

In the period of October-December, Sony reported a $2.1 billion net loss, though it was expected that the company would be doing well in that period because of the holiday rush.  But because they dropped out of their joint panel venture with Samsung, TV sales dropped 17% to 1.82 trillion yen.

“I have a very strong sense of crisis about the environment surrounding us,” Hirai told a news conference. “We cannot be afraid to make painful choices for the future of Sony. Our rivals and the operating environment won’t wait for us.”

Hirai is now faced with the task of keeping the company afloat amidst it’s fourth year in the red line.  It’s not only their TV division that suffered losses, though their gaming division is their strongest suit, it also suffered a 9.7% decline because they had to re-promote the Sony PlayStation Network, which was hacked. Sony then had to cut the price of the PalyStation 3 to compete with the Xbox.  Even sales of Sony Music Entertainment fell by 11.7%.

Apple 3rd Largest Phone Vendor

On the flip side, Apple’s doing quite well with its devices, namely their smartphones.  The latest data released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed that Apple is now in third place as the largest manufacturer of mobile phones.  Apple previously held the fifth place slot, but with a recent record-breaking quarter of shipments, it surpassed LG and ZTE.  Apple shipped 37 million units, or or 8.7% of the market share in the fourth quarter of 2011.

But Nokia is still leading the race at 113.5 million 4Q11 unit shipments, retaining the title of undisputed leader of total mobile phone shipments.  Nokia’s success is partly due to their Windows Phone-powered Lumia smartphones and its Asha line of smartphone-like feature phones, which both received positive responses from consumers.  Topped with quick adjustments to the retail experience, customer engagement, and hardware bug fixes, it’s no wonder Nokia remains at the top.

And Samsung is not far behind Nokia, as they broke the 90 million unit mark for the first time in a single quarter, and broke the 300 million mark for the first time in a single year.  The market’s acceptance of their Galaxy products as well as their Windows Phone smartphones (Focus Flash and the Focus S) contributed to their successful year.

The IDC report also stated that though there is an increase in demand for smartphones, feature phones still make up the majority of mobile shipment since its low price and user-friendly interface appeals to more people.

But an IHS iSuppli study reports otherwise.  According to IHS, Nokia only shipped 77 million, Samsung shipped 95 million and Apple shipped 93 million smartphones in 2011.  But in the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple shipped 37 million, an 117% increase from the third quarter, Samsung 36 million or 28% increase from the third quarter and Nokia only 20 million, or a 17% increase from the third quarter.  If you look at the fourth quarter, Apple is the clear winner among the three smartphone manufacturers, but if you consider the annual growth of the three companies, Samsung takes the lead, as they were able to achieve a 278% increase from the previous year.