Sony Mobile has a new product subsidiary for its business customers. The Japanese technology conglomerate has launched a drone company called Aerosense in a joint venture with robotics company ZMP.
With Aerosense,
Sony doesn't plan to sell standalone drone products, but provide aerial vehicle-related services such as the ability to capture images and perform cloud-based data processing to measure, survey, observe, and inspect areas.
The company says that Aerosense will leverage its camera, sensing, telecommunications network, and robotics technologies alongside ZMP's automated driving and robotics technologies. The joint venture will be formed in August, though the first services will be launched only next year.
The move by the Japanese consumer electronics giant is just one of its initiatives in the Internet of Things segment, in which it is looking to actively expand. In a press statement, Sony Mobile described the joint venture, "Sony Mobile is pro-actively engaging in new business creation initiatives, with a particular focus on the
Internet of Things (IoT) sector. This joint venture represents a part of this push into IoT, as Sony strives to provide its customers with additional value by developing and managing total package cloud solutions."
The announcement comes as the company refocuses on its core strengths. Earlier this year, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai announced that the company will largely focus on PlayStation gaming division, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and its devices business.
It's no secret that Sony's smartphone business isn't doing well, but
recently dispelled sales and spin-off rumours to say it has no plans to sell the mobile business. The drone space has just recently started to get traction, and Sony evidently wants to be among the frontrunners in drone-related services.
Apart from Sony,
Google,
Facebook, and
Amazon are among the companies that have shown interest in using drones for various services. Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus also
launched a drone-toy earlier this year.
Sony is counting telecommunications and land surveying companies among others as its potential customers.