Sony: Can't beat Apple and Samsung, so let's be the Other Guy
C'mon. We could totally take on Huawei
Sony's head of mobile has said today that the company is aiming to be the third most loved smartphone maker over rivals like Huawei, ZTE and Motorola.
The Japanese firm has no illusions of being able to knock Apple or Samsung out of the top two spots, but it's hoping to at least get onto the podium for a bronze medal, Kunimasa Suzuki told reporters in Tokyo, according to Reuters and others.
Beancounters at IDC have Sony in fourth place as per the latest figures in January this year, which isn't too bad, with a market share of 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. The share doesn't sound so big, but it's not a big jump to overtake the current third-placed firm Huawei, which has just 4.9 per cent of the market.
IDC currently ranks Samsung and Apple streets ahead of that with 29 per cent and 21.8 per cent of the market respectively in the fourth quarter, though they have tended to switch top and second spot in the last year or so.
Sony is hoping that its acquisition of Ericsson's stake of their joint venture in 2011 will help propel it up the ranking with Sony-only branded mobes like the Xperia TL.
One way to add to its market share would be to bring out some cheaper models to gain traction in developing nations, a plan the company might go for, according to Suzuki.
As well as getting more out of mobes, Sony is on a mission to regain at least some of its previous high standing in electronics by focusing on mobile devices and revamping and streamlining the rest of its biz. The restructuring has included selling off office space, such as its billion-dollar Manhattan HQ, offloading shares in subsidiaries like medical market research firm M3 and trying to do teaser launches a la Apple.
The company said in a statement today that it was getting rid of all the shares it owns in Japanese online game firm DeNA, over 17 million of them, by selling them to Nomura Securities for a tidy ¥40.9bn ($437m).
"Sony has identified certain assets for possible sale as part of an initiative to transform its business portfolio and reorganise its assets. This sale was conducted as a part of that initiative," the firm said. ®
COMMENTS
You're right, I do remember what Sony have done in the past. None of this petty stuff you mention however, like rootkits done by German subsiduaries completely unbeknownst to the mothership, or removing a feature 3 people used because one of those people was trying to use it to run pirated games.
I'm thinking more of the Walkman, PlayStation (1,2 and 3), Trinitron Wegas and the current range of Bravias, my 90's MIDI system that just will not die, all the professional A/V kit, the Handycams and the current Alpha and Cybershot range, all the decades of innovation (usually for innovation's sake), the inspirations for a certain Mr Jobs, the slim and light VAIO's available years before a Macbook Air, etc etc. Not to mention personally, my K800i, W950i, X10 and my current Xperia S. Oh and my Tablet S.
Best of luck to them I say, about time they got back to past glories...
I have to say....
.....that despite some of the hate aired here so far, their Android phones are actually rather good.
A light touch with the added crud[1], a cut above most for quality, decent cameras and updates seem to turn up when promised too.
If they keep it up, I'll probably get another one when this one expires.
[1] Ok, the FB integration's a bit cheesy and all-pervading, but you can at least make that thoroughly disabled with conventional weapons[2]. Removing it all completely to get the storage back does require root though. On the serious plus side, their DLNA "play to" integration is the dog's bollocks.
[2] Something I'd like to see in smartphone reviews - How easy is it to de-Twatterise and un-Faceb0rk the thing?
Blu-Ray
Um... you do know that HD-DVD was the "renegade" format? Only supported by 2 manufacturers vs. the BD being supported by the rest? Not to mention it was the crappiest of the two, with lower storage space *and* hobbled by a fugly MS-backed menu system.
@bodhi It is not 'petty' when rootkit removal costs the customer.
It is not 'petty' when something is bought in good faith with one paticular feature in mind.
Not a corporation to trust now.
Re: Seems Sony will never get forgiven
Unfortunately Sony is married to Sony BMG, which is not a tech company and has a tendency to repetatively do stupid things.
