Sony Mobile phone designs for Brazil

Sony Mobile, mobility arm of Japanese electronics manufacturer, plans to launch in the second half of next year a mobile phone designed for the Brazilian market. The model is under development and, according to the company, there's still no product details, nor the price. The initiative will be the first of its kind taken by the company in the country and reinforces a change of placement started in 2012.
Creating models with functions or specific features for certain markets is a common practice among the manufacturers of mobile phones. An example is the inclusion of the feature that allows the use of more than one different chip carriers in appliances sold in countries such as Brazil and China.
In the years that it operated in the cellular market in partnership with Ericsson, under the brand name Sony Ericsson, Sony was not very adept of this practice. But since last year, when it took control of the business and went on to act as Sony Mobile, the company went on to make the adjustments. In 2012, released dual chip equipment in Brazil. By the end of this year, plans to launch a smartphone with digital TV function.
According to Ricardo Junqueira, President of the company in the country, the new company structure facilitated this kind of initiatives. "Makes it easy when opening [group], you do not need to convince so many people," said yesterday, during event in Sao Paulo.
In Office since April, Junqueira, with more than 15 years of experience in different areas of Sony, replaced Jorge Aguiar, former Ericsson Sony who left after little more than a year in Office. By a change in the structure of the company, Junqueira not amassed as President of Sony's Mobile operations in Latin America, which was also occupied by Aguiar.
In the region, the business came under the command of the Argentine Rafael Vieira, also coming from Sony Electronics area. According to Junqueira, the Division of responsibilities was made to increase the company's focus on Brazil. "The Smartphone market in the country is growing very fast every month," he said.
According to the Executive, the Sony Mobile tripled its stake in number of units sold and revenue in the Brazilian market of smartphones since the beginning of the year. The goal is to keep this performance until the end of the year. Today, the company is the 4th runner-up in the country in terms of units sold and 4th in revenue, said Junqueira.
The progress in operations is a result of the expansion of the product portfolio. In the first half, Sony has released three new models in the country, coming to a total of six – which can be sold with different color settings and the ability to save files. By the end of the year, the plan is to launch three more. All will fall in the range of prices practiced today, between $ 499 and $ 2,000, and will be manufactured in Brazil, as the company has always done.
Among the expected releases is the Z Ultra. With a giant screen of 6.4 inches, fits in a category that has been called "phablet", by mixing features of smartphones and tablets. "Consumers want large screens to consume content," said Junqueira. In addition to 4 g networks connection, the appliance will come to Brazil at the end of the year using digital TV. The functionality-that only existed in products for the Japanese market-was incorporated due to the World Cup. Sony is one of the main sponsors of the event. "Consumers will be able to watch the replay of controversial moves inside the stadium," he said.
For the next year, Junqueira said the goal is to double the market share of mobile phones. To this end, the strategy will be to increase a little the number of appliances for sale, always respecting the price range between $ 499 and $ 2,000. "We have no plans, for now, to have cheaper equipment than that," he said.
By selling 9.6 million phones in the quarter ended June, the growth was almost 30%, compared to the same period last year. Revenue rose 30%. In addition to other business lines, the area of mobile phones helped improve the results from Sony. In general terms, the company had profit of $ 30 million, reversing a loss of $ 200 million registered in the same period last year.