KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Last year Sony Corp. sold off its PC division to an investment company. Besides, the company span off its TV division into a wholly owned subsidiary called Sony Visual Products in a bid to put its costs under control. This year the company is considering options for its TV and smartphone businesses, which includes sale and spin off scenarios.
Sony management recognizes that “no business is forever”, a source told Reuters news-agency. Although no deals are on the table, “every segment now needs to understand that Sony can exit businesses”, he added. At present it is unclear what exactly Sony might do with its businesses, but it is obvious that the company is losing money on TVs and smartphones.
Kazuo Hirai, chief executive officer of Sony, admits that his reforms have succeeded “in some parts but not in others.”
“Electronics in general, along with entertainment and finance, will continue to be an important business,” said Mr. Hirai. “But within that there are some operations that will need to be run with caution – and that might be TV or mobile, for example.”
Apple, Google and Samsung are the only companies who actually make money on smartphones. Due to cut-throat competition from various suppliers, many companies do not earn any profits selling handsets these days. To make the matters worse for Sony, a similar situation is on the market of televisions. It is relatively easy to obtain display panels, TV tuners, system-on-chips and software to build TVs. Therefore, to start earning on smartphones and TVs, Sony needs to re-organize the aforementioned business units.
“The mobile and TV businesses both require a drastic overhaul,” said Kota Ezawa, an analyst with Citigroup. “Without drastic reforms such as joint ventures or alliances, they will both be in the red three years from now.”
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: While it is obvious that Sony TVs are better than devices from no-name manufacturers, Sony fails to persuade end-users in this. Moreover, Sony has consistently failed to persuade customers that its products work better together and there is a value in its ecosystem of its devices. If Sony gets rid of its TV or smartphone businesses, it will further devalue the family of its products.
It’s a shame, becuase Sony makes very good smartphones and TVs. Always underrated.
you could argue that Sony tried to hard to be like Samsung and it hasn’t paid off, because we already have Samsung.
The issue is that the TV market had largely stagnated, as has the phone market. Both markets have an issue that there really isn’t much of a reason for people to upgrade unless something breaks.
Between my HTC One and the HTC One M8, in real turms, there is little difference. While between the HTC Desire HD and the HTC One X there was a difference. (I use HTC as an example as they’re the phones I use)
Perhaps they didn’t sell as many XBRs as they would have liked? I, myself, have been considering an X850B for the better part of the past, pfft, month. I’m starting to think that Samsung has been stealing their market, and Sony’s paying the big-time price for it.
I can agree with that. However, the reason I find myself upgrading is because of where we currently live, where there’s larger rooms, and a 32″ in the master bedroom is rather uncomfortable because of that (not to mention that it’s 8 1/2 – 9 years old, too). I’m definitely looking for at least a 50″, if not a 55″ display (given that I’m about 10′ from the pillow to the TV desk on the other side of the room).
But it’s not as big of an upgrade as going from CRT to LCD