It wasn’t long ago that Sony‘s mobile division looked like the dark horse in the mobile industry, producing quietly brilliant devices that had subtle advantages over their competitors. Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite panned out for Sony as it forecasts a net loss of 230 billion yen ($1.9 billion USD) for the year up to March, not in small part due to losses due to smartphones. So while there are no deals on the table at the moment, Sony has put all its segments on notice as “no business is forever” and that “every segment now needs to understand that Sony can exit businesses”. This has been made abundantly obvious after Sony cut loose its VAIO laptop division earlier in 2014.
Sony CEO, Kazuo Hirai, speaking at CES 2015, spoke about Sony’s TV and mobile divisions, saying:
“There are some operations that will need to be run with caution – and that might be TV or mobile, for example… The mobile and TV businesses both require a drastic overhaul. Without drastic reforms such as joint ventures or alliances, they will both be in the red three years from now.”
If that’s not an indication that things need to change, then I don’t know what is. So although Sony’s electronics division is being buoyed by camera sensor and PlayStation 4 sales, it seems likely that we’ll be seeing a change in direction for Sony’s mobile business in the future, one way or another. Perhaps the Xperia Z4 line will be the catalyst for change – we shall see.
What do you think about Sony’s mobile division being split off? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Reuters via Phone Arena
