Sony To Shift Smartphone Focus From U.S. To Japan And Europe

The global smartphone market is quite competitive and cutthroat to say the least. Those who don’t evolve get left behind, there are a number of popular examples which substantiate this claim. The U.S. is one of the major markets which manufacturers try to tap extensively but Sony is now taking an entirely different approach to climb from its current position as the seventh largest smartphone manufacturer. Kazuo Hirai, Sony’s CEO, tells Reuters that the company is shifting the focus of its smartphone business from U.S. and China to Japan and Europe, as the latter are “the most important areas for us.” Its not that Sony will abandon the smartphone market in U.S. and China all together. Hirai says that the company will first put substantial resources in Japan and Europe after which it will “gradually” start in the U.S. Despite the fact that Sony has made a number of impressive smartphones, the Xperia Z and Xperia Z Ultra are fine examples, the reach of these products in the U.S. is quite limited. The company hasn’t opted for a multi-carrier approach in the country, its flagship is exclusive to T-Mobile. Hirai acknowledges that it is “not realistic to try to do everything at once,” so the company will first bolster its efforts in Europe and its home country before moving with a renewed resolve towards the U.S. and Chinese smartphone market.