After breaking even in its third quarter, Sony Ericsson has announced that it will shift its focus and make only smartphones, starting from next year.

Though it made no profit last quarter, it was an upswing from the previous quarter, which netted a 50 million euro loss.

However, last year the company gained 49 million euros in profit in the third quarter. It blames the drop in demand for less-advanced mobile phones for the lack of profits.

Demand falls

Sony Ericsson shipped 9.5 million phones in the third quarter, but it was a 9% fall compared with the same period in the previous year.

It says that its shift away from non-smartphones is a result of the high demand for mobile computing. Xperia smartphones now account for 80% of the company’s sales.

“We will continue to invest in the smartphone market, shifting the entire portfolio to smartphones during 2012,” said President and Chief Executive, Bert Nordberg.

Nordberg also said that Sony Ericsson, whose Xperia line runs on the Google Android system, would not rule out launching a Windows Mobile 7 phone in the future. For n

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If you havent noticed, banks are pushing us toward credit cards instead of debit cards. However, if it makes you feel better, competition with each other is getting us consumers a bigger piece of those merchant fees back in our pockets. This is where cash back credit cards come in. With them, I can get benefits like fraud protection, expense tracking, and the most flexible of rewards, cold hard cash. Then I pay off my bill in full each month, and not a penny of interest is paid while I rack up hundreds of dollars a year in savings on things I would have bought anyway (over $300 in 2010).

Here are what I feel are the top cash back credit cards available on the market today. Im also a fan of cards that use points and miles, but here I am focusing on cash back only. Each of them works a little differently, so Ive made a brief summary of each one so you can decide which ones are best for your spending patterns.

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When you finance or lease a vehicle, your creditor or lessor has important rights that end once you’ve paid off your loan or lease obligation. These rights are established by the contract you signed and the law of your state. For example, if you don’t make timely payments on the vehicle, your creditor may have the right to “repossess” ­or take back your car without going to court or warning you in advance. Your creditor also may be able to sell your contract to a third party, called an “assignee”, who may have the same right to seize the car as the original creditor.

Avoid repossession

It’s easier to try to prevent vehicle repossession from taking place than to dispute it after the fact. Contact your creditor as soon as you realize you will be late with a payment. Many creditors work with consumers they believe will be able to pay soon, even if slightly late. You may be able to negotiate a delay in your payment or a revised schedule of payments. If you can rea

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More and more mortgage lenders are offering remortgage deals with more benefits. These remortgage options are designed to make it possible for you to refinance your house for various reasons, including for reducing the costs of the mortgage itself. Before you start reviewing the remortgage quotes you get from top lenders, it is necessary that you calculate the right amount of mortgage you can actually afford.

Look into your monthly expenses and make a detailed list of your personal budget. Compare the expenses with your monthly income to see just how much money you can allocate on the new loan. This amount can be used to determine if the monthly mortgage payments are affordable according to your personal financial state.

Next, calculate your debt to income ratio carefully. Debt to income ratio is simply the portion of your total income used to repay debts, including the mortgage loan and credit card bills. Read more…

Shares across the European Union and further afield bounced back today, as renewed optimism spread about the future of the economy.

The upturn followed a weekend of talks at the G20 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A number of proposals were reported to have been discussed, including expanding the scale of the bail-out fund in the eurozone, boosting some of the continent’s key banking institutions that are heavily exposed to defaults and halving the debt currently owed by the ailing Greek economy.

The German Dax index saw the biggest boost, rising by 4.9% at its peak, while the FTSE 100 rose by 3.4% on the back of improving sentiment.

Also in Europe, the French share index, Cac 40, saw its value rise by 4.4% during the day, while the US Dow Jones saw a 2% improvement. Markets in Asia also improved earlier today, with the Japanese Nikkei ending trading up by 2.8%.

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Despite a year-long campaign to clear up confusion surrounding how much Canadians can contribute to their tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), it seems many of us are still getting it wrong. This year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) sent well over 100,000 letters to account holders telling them they overcontributed in 2010 and will have to pay a penalty.

If you’ve received one of these letter, or are at all confused about TFSAs, read on.

How much can you contribute? Every Canadian aged 18 or older can put up to $5,000 per year into their TFSA. If you don’t use your $5,000 of contribution room in any given year, it can be carried forward for future years. For example, if you were 18 or older in 2009 (the year TFSAs were introduced), and you’ve never contributed to a TFSA, you can put up to $15,000 into your account this calendar year.

That sounds straightforward enough, and for most people, it is. For m

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