Sony Cutting 1,000 Jobs in Mobile Div after $2b Annual Loss
- Thread starter Ape
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UltraGunner
Banned
Maybe drop the premium if your product is no longer seen as worth it? Just seeing what sticks here.
funkystudent
Member
That strategy sounds like what they tried to do with the TV division...... Not a good look.
Tempesta di Fuoco
Banned
I seriously do not see Sony surviving out the decade. I doubt Kaz even makes it past 2015.
they cant. They will lose money. The Japanese companies cannot compete on price.
But those PS4 sales!
Honestly, the Sony that emerges from this will be a very small, slimmed down company. Insurance and Playstation. Everything else will probably get sold off.
Now that will make the PS5 very interesting. A Sony of that size will effectively be in the Nintendo position of not being able to compete tech-wise with Microsoft anymore. Unlike Nintendo, the game industry likes Sony, so they may still be able to get the support they need.
In most of America at least, I don't even think the public knows Sony makes phones. They aren't on every network and aren't advertised at all.
Don't blame you.
KaiserBecks
Member
From what I understand, this doesn't affect the high end range. They're picking up some pace with the XperiaZ phones (and tablets). But the low/mid-range Xperia phones hurt the brand. There are enough other low-end android phones out there.
JimmyRustler
Member
They'll never be able to compete with Samsung or the Chinese brands. So why even bother?
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
Yup. In a world where your average customer can get an iPhone free on contract, going premium is going to be an uphill battle.
This. Sony flooded the market with low and mid range phones that no one wanted in a futile attempt to gain market share. Too bad for them that the Chinese players are offering comparable low and mid-range phones at a cheaper price.
Sony needs to get out of the low and mid-range market. The Chinese players are eating everyone's lunch. Even Samsung is getting hit by it.
Focus on the Z and Z compact and for god's sake, get them on all carriers in NA in a timely manner.
And then what? They're not making money on low end phones only the high end.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
What's Sony's issue with getting phones into US carriers? I probably would have gotten an Xperia if it was on Verizon.
Katsumi Ihara is the mastermind behind the lifeblood of Sony (their Financial Services division).
Soon, Ihara. Soon.
DOWN
Banned
Nah. Sony isn't into cheap materials and design. They're boutique electronics in any market where they aren't directly against Apple. They are a premium brand in Android and thus are still committed to it.
Also premium products are the segment where phone manufacturers get their profits.
Nokia for instance used to sell tens of millions of phones every quarter but they still failed to turn it into profit because they struggled in the high end phone market. Mid and low range market have very low profit margins.
Nope it's not that the public doesn't care it's that they aren't on every carrier and they almost don't make ads compared to the competition.
As soon as they fix these two problems they'll start to sell more and more devices.
You know... a partnership with Google to make the next Nexus phone/tablet could help them expand their visibility to the general public.
Yeah, if they do this I think the phone sector could recover pretty quick. The newer phones are getting reviewed well and are decently priced, and the Z3C is well placed to pick up people upset about the size of the iPhone 6.
If Sony wants to stay in mobile that's exactly what they should not be doing. High end phones are the only segment that's making money for anyone that's not a Chinese manufacturer.
Nah. To be honest the numbers on Nexus devices as a percentage of the ecosystem are depressingly tiny.
If they could get to a place where they can advertise "Android revisions within X weeks of the Nexus release, for at least X months after the phone is released" as a consistent message I think that would generate some nice headlines though.
As if there isn't already a company that successfully charges a premium for luxury phones. How is Sony going to wrest some of that market away from Apple, because that's what is practically necessary if Sony wants to improve its chances in the mobile market. As is, like, releasing phones in the U.S.
-duskdoll-
Member
But i love my Xperia phone 
I'm not talking about the sales i'm talking about visibility, Nexus devices are always one of the most frequent topic of conversation within the android community and if with that expanded word of mouth you add a little more ads (which historically are pretty good) and the quality of the phones themselves that is very high then i think you can expand your marketshare significantly.
How is their pro video division doing? We buy all Sony gear at our college, and I really like the XDCAM workflow.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Quoting myself.
As for the job losses, it depends on who they get rid of, if it is the new management who are up for dropping the "brand premium" and getting in the mud with Samsung and LG (which is what it sounds like) then they are done in the sector. Only Apple can make the premium only model work. HTC tried for a year and almost went bankrupt and now they have brought the Desire series back from the dead to compete in the mid-range sector.
It is not going to work. Sony may like to think it is a brand that can command a premium price, but the fact remains that the Sony brand has not been capable of doing that for almost 15 years. Until management let go of this idea the company won't be able to grow. It needs to come to terms with its place in the market which is currently below both Apple and Samsung. Even with TVs the US ASP for Sony TVs was actually lower than Samsung, but they sold fewer units, people now associate Samsung with quality and Sony with poor value for money. Until they cut the fat and dump all of their production assets outside of semi-conductors Sony will not recover.
The problem is that Sony is built like a large scale electronics manufacturer and not a niche/boutique manufacturer exclusively for high end customers. They'll need to reevaluate their worth and rescale their workforce to accomplish that -- and that does seem to be what they're doing.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Are they? Sony EMCS (manufacturing) still has circa 45,000 people on the payroll and they spend 450bn yen per year on R&D on average which is far too high if they are moving to a boutique model. Plenty of analysts have raised the warning signs that Sony's R&D expenditure is too broad and unfocussed, probably because they are involved in too many sectors.
Allez Phill
Banned
That's a start.. Has Sony done anything about their other divisions yet?
Kill Your Masters
Member
Oh man, that "people will find it confusing" quote is basically what is wrong with Sony.
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony-phones-7.php
They almost have the whole alphabet covered in the (current, non Ericsson) Xperia line, a flagship is releasing each 6 months. And then they basically just let the US market slip on a technicality...
That I think is the issue. Whenever people talk about "split Xbox off from Microsoft to save the console from the rest of the company," they're also talking about removing it from huge R&D budgets, different but related engineering teams and talent, etc. A Sony with just the PlayStation is probably a worse Sony than one that has a variety of consumer electronics experience and products.
Interfectum
Member
My heart goes out to the shareholders. Hopefully they get back on their feet soon.
Sure you don't mean employees instead of shareholders..?
Oh, I didn't mean they had already arrived. I mean that the devaluation of the mobile unit and cutting of 1,000 jobs suggests they are trying to move in that direction. They have essentially conceded defeat as a large scale mobile manufacturer.
He's apologizing to the shareholders for not paying out a dividend for the first time since they went public. He pretty much has to do so if he wants to keep his job.
Maybe ol' man Patcher will finally get this one right about the home console market disappearing!
The Abominable Snowman
Member
Sony needs to refocus on quality premium electronics. Save some of that brand name that they have left.
Are they competitive in any area? Not TVs, Phones, or cameras. The only thing they really have is their movie studio and the Playstation
Are they competitive in any area? Not TVs, Phones, or cameras. The only thing they really have is their movie studio and the Playstation
block tower
Member
the Sony brand is such a useless name in 2014, PlayStation seems like the only brand they have which is considered quality across regions. i honestly wouldn't be surprised if Sony folds before 2017 with PlayStation being spun off to its own thing, that or sold off.
SneakyStephan
Banned
Right, so they no longer serve a purpose and everything is going as it should.
Market grows, new competitors appear, eventually only the ones that can compete will remain.
That's how it's gone in every industry for hundreds of years.
No point shedding tears over it (not saying you are
)Sucks hard for all the workers who get fired though, those are always the real victims.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
I don't think shedding 1,000 positions of 140,000 is really a sign that they are ready and moving towards a resolution for their low margins. If anything it is more likely that Japan is moving to protect itself against foreign managers with new ideas given that the wording suggests that Kaz is going to push the idiotic brand premium idea and the European and US management have been pushing for a realistic assessment of Sony's brand and pricing level for midrange devices.
This, to me, is Sony reverting to type and protecting failing Japanese management and jobs.
That is a possible interpretation (although those 140k represent the entire company and not the mobile division specifically).
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