Suddenly 2002 Doesn't Look Like the Year for Wireless

Let it all out, honey. Have a good cry.

Ericsson's announcement Tuesday that it sees a flat 2002 for its wireless-equipment business unleashed a torrent of negative sentiment that raged through the market Wednesday. By the end of trading, equipment providers had all been laid low by the Swedish wireless-equipment leader.

We'd only just begun to give up on the second half of 2001, and it might now be time to plan for heartbreak in the first half of 2002 as well.

By Wednesday the market's belly was cramped from sobs over Ericsson's prediction that it would turn in two flat quarters to finish out 2001 and expects little to no improvement next year in its market-dominating equipment business.

Then news rolled in from Boston, where the Embedded Systems Conference is underway, featuring Motorola chip chief Fred Shlapak. Shlapak reconfirmed that the semiconductor division would post lower sales sequentially in the third quarter after $1.3 billion in second-quarter revenue, already a 38% year-over-year decline.

He cautioned, however, that continued pain in the mobile-phone market and in set top boxes through the first quarter of 2002 would hamstring his group's efforts.

Keep in mind that investors lost their shoulder to cry on back in June as stalwart Nokia (NOK Quote) warned it wouldn't make second-quarter metrics. When it reported its final results, it kept investors' hopes in check with guidance that it would turn in flat-to-5% sales growth in the third quarter with a slightly slimmer sequential 12- to 13-cent profit. ...