Sony Gaining Ground: Gets in the Black With Smartphone Business

[dgstorm]

Over the past year all the talk has been about how Samsung and Apple are dominating the smartphone world. While that is still true, it is not, quantitatively, as true as it was before. It looks like Sony is hard charging from the back and gaining a little bit of lost ground against the other runners. According to their latest financials, they sold 9.6 million smartphones in the last quarter compared to the 7.4 million it sold in the same quarter of 2012. Even more importantly than that metric is the fact that they also posted increased revenue and strong profit from these sales. Sony's mobile division cranked out a $60 million profit compared to posting a loss of $28.1 million in the same quarter last year. Most of these sales were bolstered by the new Xperia Z line of phones.

While these numbers seem paltry compared to the massive billions the other two titans are making, being in the black is still a good thing for any company. The media has constantly been saying that only Apple and Samsung seem to be making any profit in mobile. It looks like Sony may beg to differ with that assessment, as their strength in the Asian and European markets is still potent.

Source: BGR

 

[combatmedic870]

They stepped up there game considerably! The truly earned that profit. Create a great product and people will buy it. The Z phone and tablet are really great products. Both reviewed extremely well. The new H1 phone should be an extremely good phone(Rumors are putting it with a S800, great camera and all of that goodness). I love the on screen buttons!

 

[dezymond]

Why can't Verizon grab any Sony devices. I would get one in a heartbeat

 

[PereDroid]

I would have gotten the Z myself if Verizon had it at the time...

 

[dgstorm]

^^. Agreed with all of these points. It is so silly that Sony phones don't show up more often beyond just AT&T in the US.

 

[dezymond]

^^. Agreed with all of these points. It is so silly that Sony phones don't show up more often beyond just AT&T in the US.

They're a big hit in other markets other than US and I think all those markets use GSM networks, so I can see why they haven't gotten to Verizon.

I think alot of Verizon users still have that bad taste in their mouths when it was Sony Ericsson. Still, I think they would make a strong comeback with their new Xperia line. They're top of the line devices; sleek, futureproof internal hardware, premium materials, excellent display screens, etc.

 

[PereDroid]

and water proof. Don't forget that one. The first real waterproof Android until Sammy released the Active.
I don't think many people really remember the Ericsson. That as a million years ago in "Tech Years".

 

[MissionImprobable]

They're a big hit in other markets other than US and I think all those markets use GSM networks, so I can see why they haven't gotten to Verizon.

I think alot of Verizon users still have that bad taste in their mouths when it was Sony Ericsson. Still, I think they would make a strong comeback with their new Xperia line. They're top of the line devices; sleek, futureproof internal hardware, premium materials, excellent display screens, etc.

Really though with all the headaches that have come with phones like the Bionic there's no reason that Sony shouldn't still get a fair shot, especially with dust/water-resistant devices that are that sleek. If TMo or Sprint had decent coverage VZ would have been well in my rear-view. I've been needing to update my D2 but there's nothing that makes me want to upgrade despite the lack of RAM and 4G that I'm having to deal with. Sony has great pricing on many of their direct-sale devices, and even the higher priced Z models are more than affordable on-contract with unlimited data, albeit on less than stellar networks. VZ really needs to keep it together, not everyone wants a Samsung, and Moto hasn't done anything for me in a while. Even the appeal of the X phone was more the pricing and unlocked bootloader, but many of the great features are a result of Google Now and not the device itself.