In what can be considered good news for Sony Mobile, Chief Marketing Officer, Steve Walker is stepping down after a 7 year stay with the company. During his time at Sony, Walker has gone through a lot of transformation with Sony by first entering into the mobile market years after Apple and Samsung. Eventually during his time there, Sony would break ties with Sony Ericsson and bring all mobile initiatives in house for a more consistent development cycle. Filling in Walker’s shoes will be Jacob Sten who currently leads the Sony Mobile Product Marketing department.

According to Dennis van Schie, CVP, sales and marketing at Sony Mobile,

 these structural changes will help support our ‘One Sony’ model of working and will provide the framework for our business to progress to the next level. 

All eyes will be on Sony, who, during CES 2013, unveiled the Xperia Z which was received well by the press and Android fans around the world. Sony has long struggled with many product launches where the company is able to create a compelling device only to lack the initiative to properly market and actually sell units. In fact, seeing how Sony Mobile has nearly no presence in the US, outside of the tech blogs, it may come as a surprise to many that Sony Mobile even has a Chief Marketing Officer.

Commenting on his departure, Walker said,

 The launch of Xperia Z, along with a global marketing campaign of which I am extremely proud, marks the start of the next chapter in the company’s story. Having reached this important milestone, it feels like the natural time for me to move on to new challenges. 

Here’s to Jacob Stern, who will hopefully be able to connect with consumers and create a compelling marketing effort for quite possibly one of the best Android smartphones out there, the Xperia Z, which can help make Sony a relevant company once more.

Discuss:

How would you market the Xperia Z?

[Via Marketing Magazine]