back to article Sony phone chief vows to keep losing money forever and ever

Sony's phone boss has vowed to stay in the mobile business until the heat death of the universe – despite losses that have dragged the rest of the Japanese giant down. Sony handsets lost almost ¥200bn ($1.63bn, £1bn) last year, while almost all of the rest of Sony made money. Nevertheless, Sony Mobile's latest president, …

  1. petur

    Would be a shame too

    Sony makes bloody good phones - the Z3C it the best I have owned and seen so far

    1. Nadjau

      Re: Would be a shame too

      Agreed. The Z3C is a fantastic piece of kit and it would be a shame if Sony cannot find a way of making great phones without losing a fortune in the process. The Android ecosystem is sucking value out of the OEMs and Google needs to address this.

    2. Necronomnomnomicon

      Re: Would be a shame too

      This. The missus got the Z1C a year or two ago and it sold me on the Z3C when my renewal came round. Now I'm looking at the Z series tablets, they're a bit pricey but if the quality is on par with the phones it'll be worth it.

      1. Madge

        Re: Would be a shame too

        I Love my Z3 tablet, it's light, fantastic screen and waterproof. Important to me. I also have Xperia phones and a SmartBand. All product great design and nowhere near as expensive as Apple.

      2. Greg 16

        Re: Would be a shame too

        I've had a Z1C for a couple of years and it's so good I'm not sure i can justify an upgrade. Which is probably one of the reasons that the market for smartphones is nosediving - they're too good to replace!

      3. David Paul Morgan

        Re: Would be a shame too

        we have a pair of Z1C Xperias at home. Did almost all our hokliday snaps & videos with them last year. I have the Z2 Tablet and it's great.

        I don't have an upgrade until next March, so I hope they'll be around long enought for the Z5 compact! Especially if they persue the minimal Android skinning plan.

        1. David Paul Morgan

          Re: Would be a shame too

          follow-up.

          My Z1C was discharging and not charging properly from the micro-usb.

          Went into Carphone Warehouse (18months into 24 month contract)

          unfortunately(!) they could not repair OR replace the Z1C, so I had to have a Z3C instead :-)

          only realised when we tried to fit the nano sim into the micro-sim slot!

          (replaced gratis as I was still under warranty with CPW)

          I might still get a pair of Z5C's in March, though...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Would be a shame too

      "Sony makes bloody good phones"

      So everybody says. But last year they lost an average of around £23 on every phone they sold. Breaking even's no good, so if they want to make a billion quid profit on similar sales then they need to achieve a £50 improvement between average cost and average selling price. That looks like quite a big deal to me.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Would be a shame too

      I have the Z2 Tablet and its also a very nice device.

  2. Blackmo

    This is a title

    I really hope they do as out of all the phones I've used over the years I do think theyre really rather good. Easy to use and great camera and best of all actually make phone calls well

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In corporate speak

    "We will never ... " = "We are just about to ... "

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Great for consumer

    Sony are making the best phones and tablets money can buy...

    1. g e

      Agreed

      My Z4 tab is awesome, a no-brainer upgrade from my (still) excellent Z2. Shame about the magnetic charging dock connector omission, though :o/

      Expecting to switch from Samsung to SONY for my next phone, too, at this rate (and oh, how novel, still be able to use my apps on another maker's device, chortle).

  5. Shannon Jacobs
    Holmes

    Good thing I'm not a greedy shareholder

    ...but this year's annual meeting (June 23rd) was more like a funeral than a party. Something of an improvement over the last two, which were more like incipient riots, but the mood was definitely downbeat. I reached my limit and left early, even though they'd seated me in the second row. I suppose they wanted the 'international' face.

    Obviously I'm not holding the shares in expectations of glorious profits, and though I had an option to get a Sony smartphone last year, I went with the Samsung... Just this week I bought some new headphones, but this time I didn't even give Sony any serious consideration.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Good thing I'm a greedy shareholder

      I had an option to get a Sony smartphone last year, I went with the Samsung... Just this week I bought some new headphones, but this time I didn't even give Sony any serious consideration.

      So, even as a shareholder you won't buy your own company's products? If that's the case, what is your logic for holding the shares?

      1. Shamoy

        Re: Good thing I'm a greedy shareholder

        That's pretty dumb. Invested in Sony while ignoring their productss. Good luck

  6. Graham Jordan

    Z3C owner here

    And I couldn't be happier with this phone.

    I've been a HTC devote for a decade now so coming away was a big step.

    No regrets at all. Well I did miss BlinkFeed but found the means to add it. Now definitely no regrets

    1. David Paul Morgan
      Happy

      Re: Z3C owner here

      LOL - my emergency backup and travel-sim handset is my trust HTC Desire (aka Bravo?) but with CM7 installed. Tough as old boots and works well as a roaming wifi hotspot. (see above for Xperia comments)

  7. The last doughnut
    Go

    I think they will gain market traction as time goes on. Best phones and tablets around. Go Sony.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Best phones and tablets around. Go Sony.

      One word for you: Betamax.

      1. MJI Silver badge

        Betamax

        Was best video format around.

        (Owner of top eend Sanyo and Sony decks)

  8. Shamoy

    No Sony wont lose money in smartphones forever

    The title of this article is so blatantly stupid. It suggests that Sony will never become profitable from smartphones when Sony has already made a ton of profits from smartphones over the past few years. This years loss in smartphones comes from an aftershock of buying the Xperia division from Ericcsson. Over time Xperia sales are growing and the division is already profitable again this quarter. This author must be an absolute pessimist.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Plenty disagree online, plagued with screen issues. Worst of all is the poor support from Sony after. If you want to charge Apple prices then you need a network of phone shops where people can go to and get any issues resolved. This goes for Samsung too. If they're not going to provide the support then then need to have a max £300 sales price per handset.

    1. David Paul Morgan

      we had an Xperia S...

      ... with the slight yellow-tinted screen.

      As soon as I noticed, I took it back to the store and the screen was replaced. Under warranty.

      Another Xperia had a power supply / battery discharge issue and was fixed - under warranty. 2 different issues, supported by Sony and the shop. Also, all the Android updates for the Z series have been fairly timely. 9not as fast as some, granted...)

  10. old man

    I had Ericsson then Sony mobile's after they bought out ericsson mobiles for a few years . While the Eriksson's always worked the Sony ones looked good they were far from reliable I remember throwing one at a car phone warehouse manager once it was such a heap of shit to give the company their due they posted me back a replacement saying that they could understand my frustration after it broke down for the 4th time in 3 months with Sony refusing to fix it. Anyway I joined the rest of the world and got a Nokia all of which 5 of them are still working the last 2 Lumia Windows currently 735 they just work so far next to unbreakable thinking of which I have never seen a cracked screen on one while I have never seen an I phone without a cracked screen

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