Smartphones offer ‘synergized’ world

A Sony Philippines Inc. official said he was optimistic about the firm’s new smartphones  that offer users a “synergized” environment.

With a solid brand and a wide portfolio of technologies available in the market, the reintroduction of its mobile phones—this time under the Sony brand instead of Sony Ericsson—would strengthen Sony Philippines market share, said Patrick Larraga, Sony Philippines Inc. head for mobile division.

“Sony has been known for many years to have quality products. We will bank on that image and offer the market a different kind of experience that they don’t get from other brands,” Larraga said.

Larraga was referring to the new smartphones’  promise of giving clients  seamless connectivity with other Sony  devices like the Sony Bravia television and Sony Vaio notebooks.

This experience was shown during last week’s launch of Sony Mobile Communications—Xperia S, Xperia U, Xperia P and Xperia Sola.

Vince dela Cruz, Sony product marketing manager, showed how a user could play a movie in his phone and use the Sony Bravia television as its projector though a Wifi connection.

“You can do this with all our products. We are now at the dawn of connected entertainment,” he said.

Around the world  over 900 million Sony devices will be  maximized through this proposition of a “synergized” experience.

In a survey by GfK Asia, the Philippines emerged  the fastest-growing market for application-rich, Internet-enabled smart phones.

The value of smartphones sold grew by 402 percent in the first quarter of 2012 at $265 million compared to that of the same period last year.

GfK Asia’s latest report surveyed Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia, where  smartphone sales grew by an average of 62 percent.

The size of the smartphone market in the Philippines, however, remains small compared with its Asian neighbors.

Smartphone penetration in the country at the end of March was pegged at 29 percent.

This is less than half the penetration rate in Indonesia where  penetration rate  is  62 percent and  sales exceeded $1.4 billion last quarter.

Larraga said Sony Philippines sees a big untapped market in the country.

Effective marketing should be applied especially in major economic hubs where people often go to shop for new devices. /Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap