With multiple products lined up —
the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL and Xperia E — Sony India hopes to take the
smartphone fight in India to the level of the dominant Samsung and the
emergent Apple. According to the latest statistics from technology
research firm IDC, Samsung headed the smartphone market in the last
quarter of 2012 with a 38 per cent share with Apple jumping to the
second spot with a 15 per cent share because of its revamped
distribution strategy of selling through smaller stores, and at
affordable EMI schemes. Sony was in the third spot with a 9 per cent
share.
Now with Sony Z, the company’s new flagship
phone priced at an MRP of Rs. 38,990, Sony India says it has
kick-started a campaign to triple the sales of its Xperia brand of smart
devices in the country, and challenge the likes of Samsung and recover
lost ground. At the briefing, Sachin Thapar, business head of Xperia,
Sony India said: “With the launch of Xperia Z, we hope to triple our
sales to Rs. 3,500 crore for the financial year 2013, more than doubling
the sales channel counters to 8,000 and increasing the service touch
points to 300.”
In what should augur well for
consumers, Sony has also decided to throw open its exhaustive Sony Music
library open to users with a 6-month free unlimited streaming and
download option on its 15-lakh strong catalogue of international,
Bollywood and regional songs. Nokia and Samsung have already been
offering such free offers on purchase of their smartphones, but in terms
of range and scale, Sony Music is way more exhaustive and it is a
surprise that it took the company so long to get to the decision.