Sony Korea merges with mobile unit

By Cho Mu-hyun

Sony Korea said Friday that it has merged with Sony Mobile Communications Korea as of Jan. 1 as part of its plan to push its mobile business.

The company said it was part of its long-term goal for convergence of its various consumer electronics divisions, smartphones, tablets, televisions and PCs to create a synergy.

Company CEO Kazuo Hirai highlighted the mobile business as one of three key growth engines that will drive it forward after his inauguration in April. The others are digital imaging and games.

“Sony Korea, following our One Sony strategy, has merged with Sony Mobile Communications Korea to strengthen our mobile division, as its importance will continue to rise,” said company spokeswoman Hong Ji-eun.

Hirai vowed to revitalize Sony’s ailing electronics business. He in April said the firm was not giving up on any divisions, including its old mainstay of televisions.

The mobile arm here is now the consumer products division of Sony Korea and will work on marketing and sales. The spokeswoman said there was no slimming down of personnel as part of the restructuring.

Sony Mobile Communications Korea was inactive last year without releasing or promoting any handsets, raising speculations of a complete withdrawal from the sector here. Other overseas giants such as HTC packed their bags last year as they have struggled against local brands.

Sony Mobile moved its headquarters from Lund, Sweden to Tokyo in October.

The Japanese technology giant is pushing its Xperia smartphones globally and is widely anticipated to release the next offering in the lineup called Xperia Z, packing a quad-core processor and 5-inch screen sometime during the first quarter of the year.

Industry observers speculate that Sony Korea will release the phone here as well.

Despite its difficulties, Sony managed to rank third on Strategy Analytics’ third quarter report for 2012 on global smartphone market share with 5.2 percent. First and second were Samsung and Apple, with 33.9 and 16 percent respectively.

The Japanese giant bought a 100 percent stake of joint venture Sony Ericsson in early 2012 and renamed it Sony Mobile Communications.