Minus Ericsson, Sony to only make smartphones

MUMBAI: Sony Corp is all set to rebrand its mobile phones post the acquisition of Ericsson's share in the ten-year-old joint venture-Sony Ericsson. Asenior executive from the Japanese conglomerate, which also makes PlayStation video game consoles and Bravia TVs, said by mid next year, the Sony Ericsson brand will be phased out even as it looks to become a complete smartphone company. It would then sell its smartphones under the Sony brand.

The mobile handset maker, famous for its Walkman series phones, has been left behind in the race for market share in the last few years but is now banking on the Android-based smartphone segment to give it anew lease of life. Indian operations of Sony Ericsson will also follow the global strategy and by next year become a pure play smartphone brand as its line of feature phones makes an exit, said Kristian Tear, executive VP & head of sales & marketing, Sony Ericsson , while talking exclusively to TOI.

"A lot of planning goes into getting the branding right but we will be done by middle of next year. It will also mean that the marketing and advertising investments will go up. We haven't been as fierce as we were a few years back but we will step it up, refocus and invest more in brand-building in select markets and India is one of those markets," Tear added.

Sony Ericsson, which currently has about a 2% market share globally of the mobile handset market, underwent a management change about two years ago, got rid off the Symbian operating system in lieu of Google's Android and made the decision to focus only on the smartphone segment as losses mounted for the company . The Android platform, dominated by Samsung, now accounts for more than 50% of the overall smartphone market , according to Gartner, while Apple's iPhone has been the other big non-Android player in the overall smartphone category.

With full control of the company, the mobile phone maker is now looking to leverage more from its parent to help it bounce back. "Sony is the world's biggest entertainment company. We were earlier a 50-50 JV, but now that we are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corp. We expect to gain from its assets on the content , technology and brand side," he added.

The euro 6.2 billion Sony Ericsson will also integrate in some way at the sales and marketing level with its $86 billion parent company, although, with the acquisition still to get final approval, the process will only start next year, Tear said. Besides, gaining brand equity and assets of its parent, Sony Ericsson, which has 19% and 12% share of the Indian and global Android smartphone market, respectively, will increasingly focus on the valueend of the market.

Some industry watchers said this could mean foregoing a big chunk of the Rs 30,000 crore Indian handset market, still dominated by sub- Rs 3,500 phones. "Smartphone's still account for only about 6% of the overall market as low-cost devices rule majority of the Indian market. Although, the growth is happening rapidly at 30-40 % in the smartphone category it will be a while before we get to the adoption rate of the mature markets," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst, Gartner, a global information technology research and advisory firm.

The company is banking on the huge growth potential in the smartphone category to also push its profitability. "Last eight quarters have been good for us and we are proud of that. We went from focusing only on volumes to value but the big setback was what happened in Japan with the Tsunami, which put us back for this year quite a bit. But we are going in the right direction," Tear said. The target is to become the number one Android player in the smartphone segment, he added.

Sony India eyes Rs 2,000 crore business this festive season

KOLKATA: Consumer electronics major Sony India today said it is eyeing business worth Rs 2,000 crore during the current festive season, a 35 per cent growth over last year.

"We are aiming at sales of Rs 2,000 crore during this festive season, from August to October," Sony India Senior General Manager (Sales) Sunil Nayyar said here today.

He said the company hopes to garner sales of Rs 245 crore from the eastern region during the Durga Puja.

Nayyar said the growth would be in line with expansion in the overall market but there won't be a big shift in the market share in the major product areas that it operates in.

He said all three major products, television, cameras and laptops are expected to do better than last year.

The company is targeting a turnover of Rs 7,000 crore for the entire fiscal, about 30 per cent higher than 2010-11.

By 2015, the share of Sony's Indian operations in its total global turnover is expected to grow to 10 per cent, almost double from about 5 per cent currently,

Sony announces launch of world's biggest singing show in India

MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television today unveiled 'X Factor India' the Indian version of the No.1 singing show globally X Factor.

A worldwide phenomenon, THE X FACTOR is a competition series developed by Simon Cowell that gives viewers the opportunity to help choose the next musical megastar.

THE X FACTOR is a runaway hit in 24 countries with over 500 million viewers, the Big Daddy of all singing shows in size and scale.

The show will showcase Xtraordinary talent from across the length and breadth of the country like never seen before.

The X Factor India , a show, lavishly mounted in exotic locales and spectacular sets raises the bar and takes the initial auditions to an exciting and explosive new level as the hopefuls will audition not only for the judges, but also in front of a live audience of thousands in venues across the country.

The concert-like atmosphere will bring a new dimension to the performances, giving the contestants an opportunity to prove they have the whole package - vocal ability, charisma and stage presence - from the moment they step on stage.

Those contestants who survive the first auditions graduate to "boot camp" and will then be divided into three categories: 16 - 25 years, individuals over 25 years and groups.

Produced by Freemantle India, THE X FACTOR proven ratings success story, across the globe with the recent U.K. finale capturing a phenomenal 20 million viewers.