After the much talked about acquisition of Ericsson’s share by Sony in the ten year old joint venture between Sony and Ericsson, there has been numerous talks about the kind if strategy the company currently known as Sony Ericsson will take.
To start with, a senior Sony executive has confirmed that in due course, the Sony Ericsson brand would be dropped and the company would be known only as Sony. The company has also taken a decision that might not go well with Sony Ericsson fans in India. It has decided that Sony will concentrate only on making smartphones under the Sony brand. Come 2012, once the brand restructuring is complete, Sony will sell only smartphones under its brand name.
While smartphones are increasing in demand with each passing day, their demand in India is far lesser than it is globally. Sony however seems to rework its strategy and will concentrate only on the mid to high end range of phones. This strategy has worked for them to get them back in to profitability after a continuous string of losses with each passing quarter. Only the Japan earthquake was blamed for a bad 2011 for them because their production facilities in Sendai was hit. It is however strange that Sony has decided not to alter its strategy for markets like India where low to mid-range handsets still rules the roost.
The reason here might be Android which has singlehandedly lead Sony Ericsson back in to the green. Its lineup of Xperia branded Android handsets have received critical acclaim from all corners and looks like Sony is confident to hang on to the quality for a price motto rather than a handset for all segments strategy. With the Android juggernaut continuing to roll, looks like this strategy might just pay off for Sony in the long run – even though it might require them to forgo the huge 30,000 crore opportunity that waits them in the low end segment in India.
Via [The Times of India]
