2015 Mostly a 'Transformation' Year for Sony Mobile; 2016 Will Offer More 'Bold'

Despite smartphones making up a bulk of their sales, the mobile division of Sony has been stalled for the past two years where they’ve retreat in total sales compared to years past. Announcing a new flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z3+ (Xperia Z4 in Japan) and tablet, the Xperia Z4 Tablet, Sony is betting on premium devices to help get back on track.

Still, a handful of products short of pulling in sales numbers like Apple (for those playing at home, with the launch of iPhone 6 & iPhone 6+, Apple sold 75 million units in one quarter where Sony sold across its many different devices just shy of 40 million units in one year) won’t be able to turn Sony around and they know this. Instead the company will treat 2015 as mostly a “transformation” year with hopes that 2016 will finally bring in the elusive profits they so desperately need.

Released as part of their report to investors, Sony hopes the following four steps will bring the division back to black.

Complete transformation in order to record a profit in FY2016
Focus resources through model count reduction and develop technology and appealing products for FY2016 and beyond
Clarify regional strategy and enhance profit management in each region
Take bold steps to develop new businesses

As such reports go, detail was lacking and a lot of the steps outlined like “take bold steps” are quite easy to say and a lot harder to execute. However, the middle two points are likely the most relevant to readers of this site and it’s nice to see Sony Mobile acknowledge them.

As I said above, Apple with two smartphones was about to double Sony’s year sales in one quarter. While Sony has an array of smartphones, too many products can also turn into a nightmare from a manufacturing perspective, all the way to marketing, and distribution. A reduction of devices, perhaps one modeled after Steve Jobs vision of having a good, better, and best category will help simply the company’s path which leads to the third bulletin.

With a reduced pipeline, Sony can more easily target regions and map out how their product can flourish in a given market. Before entering China, people said that Apple’s products were too expensive for that market. I guess they were wrong.

The same can be said for Sony. Instead of targeting emerging markets with dumbed down devices, they should focus on created a streamlined pipeline with class-leading technology and work with retail and carrier partners to convey why that device will enhance a user’s life.

If Sony Mobile can do these two things, other things like bold steps will fall into place because as the old saying goes, success breeds success.