Sony Mobile to Exit India Soon: Sony Corporation’s president and chief executive officer Kenichiro Yoshida recently attended a news conference on their business plans which reveals a lot of information about the company’s further steps. He talked to a group of journalists and said: ”Sony’s consumer electronics hardware business has centred on entertainment since our foundation, not daily necessities like refrigerators and washing machines. We see smartphones as hardware for entertainment and a component necessary to make our hardware brand sustainable, And younger generations no longer watch TV. Their first touch point is a smartphone.”
Sony recently detailed its smartphone business transformation plan and the company has revealed that they would only focus on certain regions which include Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The company has marked many global markets including Australia, Canada, Mexico, Middle East, Africa, and India as their non-focused regions from where they will withdraw its smartphone business soon. In March this year, the company had announced the closure of their smartphone plant in Beijing and have shifted its production to Thailand.
The company also aims to reduce the operational cost by 50% and overall cost by 57% in the fiscal year 2020. Actually, Sony wants to scale back on its smartphone division to reduce losses. The brand also wants to explore options for its business units which includes its movie studio. A recent report shows that by 2020, Sony will cut its mobile division workforce by half, which could result in many employees either moving into a new business division or losing their jobs.
The main reason for Sony to quit the smartphone business in India is most probably the fierce competition that the brand is facing from the other mobile phone makers especially the Chinese brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo. These brands offer a variety of feature-loaded smartphones with very attractive pricing.
Sony has always promoted itself as a premium smartphone maker and even after making a lot of efforts, the brand has not been able to compete with these brands and it has forced them to shut down its smartphone business in India.
