Sony Bets on Xperia Z2, Other Mobiles to Push India Revenue Over Rs. 12,000 Crore

Sony India, which sells products like televisions, audio systems, smartphones and cameras, among others, had registered revenue of Rs. 8,000 crore in 2013-14.

"Last year, we saw growth of 30 percent in smartphones and 35 percent in TVs. This year, mobile business is expected to be bigger than television... Even though we have sold off Vaio, this year we are expecting Rs. 12,000 crore in revenue," Sony India Managing Director Kenichiro Hibi told PTI.

Growth will be fuelled by smartphones like the Xperia Z2 (First impressions) which was launched today and priced at Rs. 49,990, he added.

"According to GfK (research firm), we have 10 percent value share and six per cent volume share of Indian smartphone market. Last year, we launched Xperia Z (Review | Pictures) and Xperia Z1 (Review | Pictures) and the response has been great. Going ahead, we will continue to deliver innovation and grow our market share in the premium category," he said.

On marketing budget, Hibi said Sony India will invest about Rs. 350 crore for mobile phones from its total budget of Rs. 800 crore for the year.

Asked if the company would bring out affordable smartphones to compete with the likes of Micromax and Karbonn, which dominate the Indian market, Hibi said focus continues to be on mid and high-end products.

"For Sony, the Rs. 20,000-25,000 price range sees the maximum sales. We have sub-Rs. 10,000 products too but will continue to position ourselves as a premium brand," he added.

Smartphone sales in the country grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013, buoyed by a strong uptake of affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn, as per research firm IDC.

Samsung led the market with 38 percent share in Q4 of 2013, followed by Micromax (16 percent), Karbonn (10 percent), Sony (5 percent) and Lava (4.7 percent).

Available for sale from May 12, the Sony Xperia Z2 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat and features a 5.2-inch Triluminosdisplay, 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor and 3GB RAM.

(Also see: Sony Xperia Z2 With Snapdragon 801 Launched at Rs. 49,990)

With 16 GB built-in storage, it also features 20.7 megapixel rear camera and 3000 mAh battery.

Sony also launched its SmartBand SWR10 in India, priced at Rs. 5,990. The SmartBand, introduced at the Mobile World Congress in February this year, focuses on tracking fitness and health of users and monitors sleep, receives notifications and handles media playback options.

The Xperia Z2 will be bundled along with the SmartBand initially for free. Sony will also bundle six free HD movies for download, one full-HD cricket game, and three months Bigflix subscription as well as a Sony flipcase.