In an earlier piece, I outlined the importance of PlayStation for Sony, which the company sees as their biggest growth driver. But what about their different divisions like Mobile with Xperia and their return to robotics with AIBO? In short, Sony plans to

 provides customers with kando, and inspires and fulfills their curiosity, Sony will continue to target growth by developing the three pillars of its business—electronics, entertainment and financial services—and creating new business opportunities in these business domains. 

So what exactly does that all mean? While Sony obviously won’t detail on their exact plans for the future, the following gives us a roadmap as to what we can expect them to focus on going forward.

• Sony believes its strength lies in its ability to develop products that exist at the closest point of contact with its customers and resonate with them at an emotional level, and to place them in the hands of customers around the world. In other words, Sony connects with its customers at the “last one inch” of the user experience.
• Sony intends to accelerate efforts to leverage its strengths in new business areas, based on the dual principles of its mission to provide customers with kando, and the pursuit of recurring revenue business models that generate sustainable business and profit growth.
• While continuing to proceed with the new business creation initiatives in which Sony is currently engaged, the Company will aim to combine its existing strengths in areas such as video and audio technologies, sensors and mechatronics, with artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, communications and other elements, and by doing so offer new proposals at the “last one inch” across all types of living spaces.
• In addition to initiatives already under way, such as the drone-based enterprise solutions that have been launched by Aerosense Inc., Sony’s joint venture with ZMP Inc., and the development of a range of Xperia smart products announced earlier this year, Sony has also embarked on the development of 4/5 a robot capable of forming an emotional bond with customers, and able to grow to inspire love and affection. In April 2016 Sony established a new organization in this area that is working towards a business launch. Sony will seek to propose new business models that integrate hardware and services to provide emotionally compelling experiences. In the future, Sony will explore broader business opportunities for its robotics and AI technologies, including applications such as production processes and logistics.
• In order to accelerate R&D in the areas that Sony will focus on going forward, Sony intends to further strengthen its collaboration with leading external researchers and start-up companies, and create a more open ecosystem. As part of these efforts, Sony plans to establish the “Sony Innovation Fund,” a corporate venture capital fund, which is scheduled to launch in July 2016. Having advisors and business incubators actively participate in strategically important businesses will enable Sony to support the growth of companies in which it invests, and also provide opportunities to nurture Sony’s leaders of tomorrow.

Discuss:

Does anything stick out at you?