Sony Mobile Communications International Taiwan Branch plans to launch a full range of smartphones in Taiwan this year, aiming to top last year’s 1 million smartphone sales in the domestic market.
However, the company plans to streamline its business by offering fewer smartphone models than its peers in a bid to become profitable and competitive, Sony Mobile Taiwan general manager Jonathan Lin (林志遠) said yesterday.
“We will not be absent from any smartphone market segment in Taiwan this year, but it is more important for us to keep profitable than to launch a lot of models,” Lin told reporters on the sidelines of the launch ceremony of the high-end Xperia Z4 tablet, mid-end Xperia M4 Aqua smartphone and low-end Xperia E4g phone.
Lin said the smartphone business plays a crucial role in Sony Corp’s business model, and Sony Mobile aims to turn profitable this year, with an operating margin of between 3 and 5 percent by 2017.
Expecting the Taiwan branch to maintain its impressive performance this year, Lin quoted Sony Mobile chief executive officer Hiroki Totoki as saying that the company has no plans to shut down the business.
Overall, the nation’s smartphone market, especially in the mid-priced segment, is expected to encounter fiercer competition this year due to rival firms ramping up mid-priced product offerings, he said.
In related news, LG Electronics Co yesterday launched the mid-priced AKA series smartphone locally, targeting sales of more than 20,000 units this year.
“We plan to ship between 2,000 and 3,000 units of the 5-inch AKA per month,” LG Taiwan mobile business director Jackie Kim said on the sidelines of the launch event.
According to market researcher GfK Group, smartphone sales across the nation totaled 7.74 million units last year, an increase of 9.5 percent from a year earlier. GfK said it expects the nation’s smartphone sales this year to grow 4.4 percent to 8.08 million units.
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