Sony Mobile to Hold October 9th Event for US

Sony_Oct_9th_Invite

We’ve always complained about Sony’s ambitions for the US market, or lack thereof. While the company has fared much better in Europe, Sony’s mobile efforts have seen little results with small deals here and there between carriers. Sony most recently announced a $2.1 billion net loss for FY 2014, due to slowing demand for their mobile division which was supposed to be one of the saving graces for the company and part of the new vision for Sony. While growing competition from mid-range Chinese smartphones is largely to blame for the huge loss which was previously estimated at $500 million, a lack of entry in the US market has also hurt Sony. All of this might change on October 9th.

Sony has begun sending out press invites to US media for an October 9th event that will be held in New York. As you can see from #DemandGreat, something that Sony has been using for the past month in order to promote the Xperia Z3, the event will likely center around their latest flagship. The phone has already been confirmed for T-Mobile with rumors of it also appearing on Verizon and Sprint. Hopefully Sony will have more to tout than their already-set-in-place deal with T-Mobile which they’ve worked with in the past. While large players like Apple and Samsung do well with T-Mobile, due to brand recognition and marketing, Sony has little chance to attract consumers to handsets that will cost north of $599 as T-Mobile offers full-priced phones with no contract, something that goes against the grain of the subsidized US model which has carriers reduce handset prices greatly in exchange for a 2-year contract.

Discuss:

What do you think the Sony October 9th event will bring with it?