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Sony's quarterly loss balloons on mobile woes
By YURI KAGEYAMA
Business Nov. 01, 2014 - 06:38AM JST ( 8 )
TOKYO —
Sony’s losses ballooned to 136 billion yen last quarter as the Japanese electronics and entertainment company’s troubled mobile phone division reported huge red ink.
The Tokyo-based maker of the PlayStation 4 video game machines, Spider-Man movies and Xperia smartphones had reported a 19.6 billion yen loss for the same July-September period a year earlier.
The poor result released Friday was despite a 7% increase in quarterly sales to 1.9 trillion yen as performance improved in cameras, TVs and game businesses.
Last month, Sony wrote down the value of its mobile phone business by 176 billion. The mobile communications unit recorded a 172 billion yen operating loss for the quarter.
Sony stuck to its forecast for the year through March 2015 of a 230 billion yen loss.
Sony has lost money in six of the seven past years, struggling amid intense competition from Apple Inc of the U.S., Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea and a host of other cheaper Asian rivals.
It has repeatedly promised turnarounds but failed to deliver, partly because even if one part of its sprawling business empire recovers, another area usually falters.
Under an overhaul announced earlier this year, Sony sold its Vaio computer business and is splitting off its TV division to run as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Sony’s TV division has lost money for 10 years straight.
That’s a stunning reversal of fortune for the inventors of the 1979 Walkman portable player, which once symbolized the power of Japanese industry to innovate.
In Sony’s movie business, its lower theatrical revenue for the quarter was partially offset by higher home entertainment and TV licensing income, such as the home entertainment release of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”
In its music business, best-sellers were Barbra Streisand’s “Partners” and Chris Brown’s “X.”
Sony had a profitable fiscal first quarter, but that had been from the sales of its Tokyo property and its stake in a Tokyo game maker.
The challenge for Sony is to bring consumers back to its products and put in practice the long promised synergy between its entertainment know-how and electronic gadgetry.
http://www.japantoday.com/cat[....]y-loss-balloons-on-mobile-woes
Sony posts $1.2 billion loss as mobile business falls off a cliff
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/s[....]le-business-falls-off-a-cliff/
Sony Slashes Smartphone Sales Forecast, Loses Mobile Chief
http://www.knowyourmobile.com[....]es-forecast-loses-mobile-chief
related links:
http://www.independent.co.uk/[....]e-mobile-business-9831144.html
http://www.techcentral.ie/son[....]-hands-full-handsets-struggle/
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Posted: 2014-11-01 10:42:55
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Anyone who is surprised by this is living in la la land. Sony doesn't know how to run this business (the mobile phone business, that is), they failed a long time ago when they tried to enter the market the first time and then failed Ericsson (Sony Ericsson). It is just the beginning of the end for the mobile division.
Pity really, cause they make lovely looking and good phones.
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Posted: 2014-11-02 08:17:59
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Do they really have any other choice other than to just stick it out in the Mobile Industry and try make it profitable? This seems like an industry that everyone wants to be in in one way or another.
Hate to sound like a broken record, I know Sony don't have a Samsung type marketing budget, but they really do need a major push in their promotions, they also need a revamp of their UI -don't get me wrong here, its a good UI, but it is far too conservative, when you walk into a phone store the Sonys don't stick out in the way the iPhones, LGs and Samsungs do, they are sort of in the shadows.
Sony really need to rethink a lot of what they do, invest in some R&D, figure out what consumers want the most instead of just releasing what they believe consumers want.
They were the 1st to bring a Water and Dust Resistant flagship yet still tanked, clearly people are not as interested in that as they thought, I myself am shocked, even Samsung's GS5 although doing well it isn't the gigantic success Samsung seem to have expected it to be despite being both Water and Dust Resistant, clearly a feature many aren't that interested in.
The mobile market also seems to be getting very tough for everyone with the Chinese OEMs flooding the market with phones that are actually pretty decent and half the price of the popular Japanese, S.Korean, and American brands.
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Posted: 2014-11-02 09:19:19
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I don't find the Sony UI inferior to Samsung UI in fact look wise I much prefer it. I think Sony 's problem is lack of advertising and maybe they should bring in a few gimmicks a la Samsung (I. E. Smart stay etc). Also it is a shame they didnt push harder in the US market - i bet a lot if profit can be made there. It is really a shame as Sony Z3 is such a lovely phone as it is the compact version and the tablet . I really hope they will stay in this industry but I won't blame them if they won't .
[ This Message was edited by: aussieland1 on 2014-11-02 19:46 ]
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Posted: 2014-11-02 20:45:09
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Well,lets hope Sony do well in the US with the Z3 series as that's also where they need to do well
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Posted: 2014-11-02 20:57:10
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Residentevil Posts: > 500
I just got my Z2 a few weeks ago. Hopefully that will help lift them up this quarter.
If they bring the Z3 compact to tmobile I might gobble that one up as well.
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Posted: 2014-11-02 21:01:14
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On 2014-11-02 20:45:09, aussieland1 wrote:
I don't find the Sony UI inferior to Samsung UI in fact look wise I much prefer it. I think Sony 's problem is lack of advertising and maybe they should bring in a few gimmicks a la Samsung (I. E. Smart stay etc). Also it is a shame they didnt push harder in the US market - i bet a lot if profit can be made there. It is really a shame as Sony Z3 is such a lovely phone as it is the compact version and the tablet . I really hope they will stay in this industry but I won't blame them if they won't .
[ This Message was edited by: aussieland1 on 2014-11-02 19:46 ]
This is what I was trying to avoid. I am not saying Sony's UI is inferior, that is completely based on preference, what I am saying is that their UI requires more colour, more life in it. For example all Samsung need is a colourful wallpaper, an action movie, and screen set to 100% brightness, the SuperAMOLED does the rest, and what it does is it makes every other phone around it look dull, Sony need to not only rethink the bigger things, but small things like in-store promotion of their devices, many people do impulse buying, they go into a store to enquire on something, the next thing they know they are looking at signing another contract as they must just have that new iPhone or Galaxy, Samsung and Apple pay incredible attention to things like this and I have noticed that Samsung often also have their phones placed at the best parts of the store.
Little adjustments like that can go a long way and may save Sony millions in fruitless campaigns.
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Posted: 2014-11-02 21:47:24
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The Z3 series has Smart Backlight Control, which the same as Smart Stay.
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Posted: 2014-11-02 23:21:56
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I my opinion there's only 2 things now that Sony need to do:
1. A good marketing strategy (a very convincing one).
2. Penetration (deep penetration) in the US market.
The recent phones of Sony, the Z3 and Z3 compact can easily fight head to head in terms of functionality, specs, performance and design against the flagship phones of LG, Samsung and Apple without breaking a sweat.
The problem is most people are carried away by marketing especially by Samsung and Apple and this is where Sony loses.
Also, the early phones of Sony which were not as good as the the competition (during the days of the xperia Z) has affected their reputation quite a bit, leaving doubts on consumers minds on the xperia brand.
With regards to US market if I'm not mistaken the problem there is carrier support. If Sony can somehow get past that, then advertise Xperias together with the strong Playstation brand then hopefully it should work. Use the Playstation brand to introduce the Xperia brand in the US.
A good market share in the US should save Sony's mobile division imo.
[ This Message was edited by: reeflotz on 2014-11-03 06:12 ]
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Posted: 2014-11-03 07:10:40
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It was obvious SONY has been running under losses but this is getting so much bigger and bigger! They are selling quite well nowadays and yet the loses are high.
i agree they need better marketing. In a long time here in India they marketed the Z properly. People were talking about it and it sold well here but after than they haven't marketed anything! People look at Z1 & Z2 and ask if its the Z -_-
Anyway, how well is LG and HTC doing? It looks like the High-End Android market is very tough to compete in these days,SAMSUNG is also selling much lesser than what they use to? but luckily for them they already have a strong hold in the market, they captured the market back in in '11 itself so they can afford the lesser profits but others are simply struggling unless you are the Mid-Low end Android makers.
On 2014-11-02 23:21:56, goldenface wrote:
The Z3 series has Smart Backlight Control, which the same as Smart Stay.
Even the Z2 does..but it doesn't work well in my Z2
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Posted: 2014-11-03 07:23:51
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