There were so many different titles that came to my mind for wanting to convey the following news and frustration but what you see on top if the most straight forward and least sensationalist one of them all. After taking a hard look at the current market realities (ie that Apple and Samsung dominate the US), Sony has decided that it will no longer try to compete in the US market and instead focus all of its resources in Europe and Japan.

When we look back at Sony’s efforts in the US (or lack thereof), it’s easy to see why the company is deciding to leave. With the release of Android, Sony was able to ditch its own custom software like nearly all other carriers except Apple, Blackberry, and Palm and us a OS that would be tuned and refined by someone else. While this helped transform companies like HTC and Samsung who otherwise would not have had a chance in the new mobile, post PC world, Sony, otherwise known as Sony Ericsson at the time was slow to the race. Nearly two years behind its competitors, Sony would release unique phones like the Xperia PLAY and Xperia S but would lack the software support that its competitors had built up. Fast forward two to three years and Sony Mobile, now a core pillar of Sony is selling an ever rising number of phones and is becoming one of the companies key growth divisions.

Unfortunately for US fans, 60% of those sales come from Europe with Japan following second and the rest of the world, including the US makes up a small, single digit sales percentage. With Sony having no true carrier support in the US this past decade and only partnering with T-Mobile, the country’s 4th largest carrier, it takes no magic ball to know that sales have been dismal.

With US consumers being primarily accustomed to Apple and Samsung, they’ve seen little reason to try Sony’s product. Frankly, with little to likely no advertisement from Sony for their products and a lack of carrier support, most consumers here likely have no idea that Sony even has a smartphone lineup. Sony CEO, Kaz Hirai said:

 Our biggest priority is maintaining our share in Japan or increasing it … But getting into the U.S. market requires a lot of resources and marketing, so we have to go one step at a time. 

With a big presence in Europe, Sony is chasing the third position number hard and is likely to achieve it with a wide array of new phones like the Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z Ultra. In Japan, Sony was also able to outsell its bitter rival Samsung by a margin of 2:1 and beat Apple as well. This will however all change as Apple has never had DoCoMo, the countries largest carrier as a partner which changed with the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. With new competition in its home turf, Sony sees it wise to pull out from the US market and instead, invest those resources in territories where they have a chance. While a bitter pill to swallow, Sony’s sober assessment of the situation should help the companies long term ambitions which hopefully will translate a return to the US market in the future on better terms.

Special thanks to Martin for pointing us towards this.

Discuss:

Is Sony doing the right thing by leaving the US mobile market?

[Via The Verge]