Sony, the Japanese corporation is known for its superlative electronic goods, for both commercial and personal use. There is no sphere of life that the company is not part of- medical services, semiconductors, video games, entertainment – movies or music, finance, home appliances, telecommunications, consumer products and office equipment, to name just some. Sony Mobile is one such company within the massive fold of Sony Corporation. Sony Mobile makes phones, music players, wireless voice systems and devices. Not just manufacturing, the company is into R&D as well, with facilities in the U.S.A, Japan and China. Sony ranks after mobile giants like Nokia, Apple, Samsung and LG, and has recently seen a dip in revenue as well.
Way back in 2009, we heard of the company’s decision to shift its U.S arm of business out of the country; a move that was meant to bring numbers in workforce down by 20%. This August, we hear of massive reduction in the Sweden based workers of Sony Mobile.
Here’s what we know so far. Business has not looked all that good for the mobile manufacturer and in a bid to revitalize business, Sony is cutting about 6% of its global workforce, which works out to about 10,000 jobs. The company is cutting 15% of its mobile division which seems a bit strange considering that it was only in 2011 that Sony picked up all of Sony Ericsson’s phone division and rechristened itself Sony Mobile. But perhaps the move, that was meant to push business up, has not worked out quite like Sony expected it to.
We’re looking at a loss of 1,000 jobs in the Swedish presence of the company. Sony is looking to ship its headquarters back to Tokyo though Lund, Switzerland will continue to create applications and software.
Future of Sony Mobile
Sony is not the only mobile manufacturer to cut jobs- Nokia had to bring down its workforce by about 10,000 people a few months ago as well. The job cuts at Sony will happen over a period of two financial years, till March 2012.
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Sony’s move stems from the company’s belief that its Xperia smartphone will grow more and more in popularity. In slowly integrating Sony mobile with Sony Corporation, the former may be able to leverage market control and move the business to the top position, using the advantages that the parent company has. Adding to this is the corporation’s inability to gain back its initial success in the TV industry.
The smartphone market is positively bursting with amazing gadgets and apart from a 4% global market share, Sony has been unable to capitalize on its technology and reputation. Instead, players like Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the market. Perhaps by reducing jobs, the company feels there is more money to be directed towards research and development, to make an even better phone.
This is especially true for Sony because smartphones are a combination of a music player, gaming consoles, cameras- all the technology that Sony has been involved in for so long. If any company can use its brilliance in these areas to create a gem that gives you the best, it is Sony.Now that it has full control, it is no longer hampered by the terms in the contract with Ericsson, especially not being able to add wireless to tablets and readers. This is a good beginning and hopefully, things will get better.
Author Bio
Travis Ramsy likes writing articles related to Technology News, Gadget Reviews and How To. He also does guest posting for buycharter.com – a site that offers savings and current information on charter cable, as well as charter.com services.
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