Bloomberg reports that Sony said it would post a net loss of 230 billion yen ($2.1 billion) this fiscal year because it was writing down the value of its faltering smartphone business. ony widened its net loss forecast and said it won’t pay an annual dividend for the first time since its 1958 listing.
Sony’s mobile division is squeezed between the Appls/Samsung premium smartphone leaders and the new “Chinese” low cost smartphone companies. Sony probably should look over at Panasonic’s excellent CM1 if they want to grab some attention on their Xperia line. The New York Times reports:
Sony said it would focus more on its phones on the higher end and cut the number of phones in its midrange lineup. It also said it would change the strategy for the division. Kazuo Hirai, Sony’s president and chief executive, said at a news conference Wednesday that the company would cut the division’s work force by 15 percent, or about 1,000 workers.
Anyhow, this bad news has nothing to do with the imaging business which is doing pretty fine! I think at worse Sony will have to get rid of the smartphone division but sincerely, I don’t think this will happen.
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Somehow not suprised. I own an Xperia Z1, awesome phone, but they only had it on the market for 5-6 months before yanking it off and replacing it with the Z2. Although I still get the latest updates for it no problem, it doesn’t allow their phones reputation to grow in the same way that Samsung or Apples do. They really need to stop with the 6 month replacement frame and stick with a 1yr window that works for the other brands.
Yeah like the Z3 has just been released when the Z2 is not even 1 years old yet.
> I think at worse Sony will have to get rid of the smartphone division but sincerely, I don’t think this will happen.
I was under the impression that Sony’s phones have been struggling for a very long time, and never really developed a following. It might be to the benefit of other divisions for them to cut their losses. One way out is for Sony to come up with the “next big thing”, but, other than the a7, Sony hasn’t been as good at this as they used to be. (And I would add that the a7 should have come out a couple of years sooner.)
Another way out is for them to make headway in infrastructure, or essential parts that other companies will use, like they did with photo sensors. Rather than produce wearables for their phones, for instance, they can make fantastic miniature displays, sensors, and RF circuits for them.
CM1 Z3 version plz, Sony. And sell it unlock and you have my money.
exactly what I wanted to say lol
“has nothing to do with the imaging business” Of couse it has! Sony got ONE monetary bag. This will stop all risky business and push on already profitable business. Top Management will look into all corners and clean out old stuff!
No nostalgia.
You do realise that Sony could be posting a profit next year right?
Yes that is what every company works for very hard. All actions is for profit tomorrow. Hard selling, no nostalgia, all loosing activitis out. I am in that business but not cameras. Computers for me but it’s the same 🙂
Lots of companies will claim that they have turned a corner and profits are just ahead. The problem here is that Sony has eliminated dividends. To me that simple fact is far more distressing than anything else. When a company actually eliminates dividends after decades of issuing them that is a sign that things are very bad. This generally happens only when a company is actually facing the threat of bankruptcy because eliminating the dividends does a lot of damage to your stock price.
I hope this is not the first sign of the end of Sony, as they did provide a reasonable check to the dominance and slow movement of the Nikon and Canon companies… but this may be the sign of something much worse that the corporation knows about and is simply hoping they can maneuver around.
They could had used the QX cameras money to make CM1-like phone. LOL.
I think if they drop Xperia, nobody will cry.
after all there is iPhone… 6 🙂
IOS8, welcome to 2011…
thanks ! 🙂
I currently have an Xperia and really like it. 🙂
Sony’s smart phones are good but too average, i mean similar quality like other brands and lack of selling points. Sony’s brand image has been decreased several years before for lack of innovation, poor customer service and quality, but i believe there will be a breakthrough for Sony.
Their smart phone division will be fine…Bump in the road…
This is from Sony.com website.
*facepalm*
This is how they see their camera line-up
http://ib4.keep4u.ru/b/2014/09/19/01/010310f95d8c1ed7e79ec965e670dc48.png
too bad that A-mount is losing SONY big money… no wonder A-mount is dead now.
This isn’t A-mount, it is mobiles that lost 1.7 Billion. The rest of the loss is restructuring costs that were already forecast. You may wish to read before you comment, you’ll look less of an idi0t.
A-Mount is profitable for Sony.
Yes, but only the A to E mount adapter.
OK, now I know you’re a troll.
He’s a loser
How do you know? Do you work for Sony?
The A77II launch presentation. Its on google.
“We are shifting our strategy from one aimed at expanding market share and sales volume to one that focuses on profitability,” Kazuo Hirai
That’s why there will be only high end E-mount. In A-mount there is too many second hand and third party gear on the market. Of course he says in the context of mobile division loss, but the word “strategy” says everything.
advising cm1 phone for sony :facepalm ,they will make an even big loss.flagships isnt matter for this loss,they’re really good phones even though they have some faults ,problem is sony’s midrange phones
I use one of that “Chinese” low cost smartphones.
I use TWO!
It is no coincidence this appalling financial news from Sony appears to have come at the same time as the apparent sidelining of A-mount. It is obvious Sony must engage in maximising profits, where they can, with immediate effect, and the low volume small profit A-mount line just isn’t hacking it! The rumoured BIG ANNOUNCEMENT from Sony in January might reveal something
new in A-mount but I am not holding my breath!
It will be the LAEA5, a new A to E mount adapter.
but if it does support fast SLT AF and IBIS, then Sony can stop A-Mount completely 🙂
They’ll still need to develop new lenses for A-Mount.
FE lenses only work with mirrorless AF.
I do not feel Sony have abandoned A-mount, just temporarily cut back on investment until the finances are sorted!
It all comes to the logical fact that –> A mount lenses works on E mount camera, so A mount is dead.
There’s zero logic in your statement.
Please read again what I said.
The A-mount isn’t low profit and small volume.
It is no profit and no volume
The A-Mount generates the largest amount of camera revenue. So fuc¥ off troll.
Based on which source?
The A77II launch presentation. Its on google genius.
You must have missed the memo where Sony said A-mount was popular in Europe.
Walkman was very popular too. A mount is obsolete. The mirror is obsolete. Mechanical lever aperture control is obsolete. Data rate of the electric contact points is obsolete. Accept the fact that A-mount has no future.
The A-Mount is the most advanced camera system in Sony’s line-up. You must be from one of the only two countries in the world that actually gives a crap about mirror-less.
Big Hint – Most First World Countries don’t buy into mirror-less.
Its popular in North America too. E-Mounts are only popular in Asian countries.
They tend to find anything over a pound too heavy.
He’s trolling you dude. The A-Mount represents 30% of Sony’s camera revenue, and its 40 – 50% more than the e-mount.
The A-Mount represents 31% of Sony’s camera revenue, and generates 40 to 50% more profit than the e-mount.
The A-Mount has always represents the largest chunk of Sony’s cameras sales. A-Mount bodies/lenses have large margins than e-mount.
I do very much appreciate what you are saying but the impetus and thrust for future sales is all about the FE mount, not even E-mount. A-mount has never broken into the mainstream high end pro camera market in a way that FE mount has already done in its short time of existence. It is easy to see why Sony appear to have switched their efforts into something that genuinely promises great success, and, more importantly, profits. Kind regards.
Being the third place SLR maunfacturer is mainstream. The A-Mount has the third largest SLR user base, which is an accomplishment on its own.
The A-Mount is represents 31% of 164.6 billion yen (1.5 billion USD) every financial quarter. The A-Mount over 500 million USD in revenue every quarter. It also has a very positive cash flow.
There are four quarters annually, so were looking at 2 billion USD annually just for the A-Mount.
So, if you are thinking the A-Mount isn’t turning a massive profit you’re out of your mind.
I believe Sony consider the level of sales of A-mount has reached a ceiling and is therefore seen as not having the potential for significant future growth. In FE-mount Sony believe they have found a way of projecting themselves into the mix with the top two and the growth rate of current sales indicate they are probably right to think this. A-mount is still a specialist and relatively small system in global terms despite its healthy financial status within Sony, and loved by dedicated users such as ourselves, but the FE-mount could put Sony at the very top of the imaging industry in a way A-mount can never do.
Actually the Sony’s SLR is growing at a much faster pace since the release of Sony mirror-less. It’s grown over 15-20% for the last three years. There is no ceiling.
It’s really the perfect camera for those who want the features of a mirror-less camera, and the ability to use SLR lenses.
There is a ceiling on A-mount in terms of the long term achievable growth rate and for market domination. Sony have done spectacularly well in growing the line, that is for sure, but the arrival of FE-mount has changed everything. With FE-mount Sony have come up with a system that is capable of taking over the entire world camera market, and in not too many years time at that. A-mount will never, ever, be able to do that and I fear Sony have recently taken a decision to move on with FE-mount and leave the A-mount to fade away quietly. I do most sincerely hope I am wrong!
Even K-Mount gets a lens roadmap!!!
http://www.dailycameranews.com…
So what now trolls, who claim that Sony’s DSLR share was too low to develop A-Mount?
It’s cetrainly higher than Pentax!
What else would Pentax do? Focus on their incredibly successful Q-series?
Pentax France also says that FF is finally in the works.
I know that’s a looooong standing rumor, but this time it looks official.
Look at it this way- may be they are losing less money on them than the phones and the Q contraptions from Sony.
It is not the money but the willingness and the investment that is lacking. They are squeezing their camera division people very hard and are squeezing money out of the people outside of Japan (especially Europe) even harder. It has got to change. The management is at fault.
Well if you look at it from that side is it better for Sony to copy Pentax DSLR model or the one of Nikon & Canon that don’t publish either lens or bodies roadmaps and never did!?!
There’s no concern about EF and F systems.
It’s not like they’re going to cancel those in favor of EF-M and Nikon 1.
A compelling A-Mount roadmap is needed urgently.
Few professional photographers who use Sony are selling their gear and moving to Canikon every day due to the uncertainty over the A-Mount future.
Well, Canon at one point in his past did just that, didn’t it?! And both of them can at any point come out with mirror less full-frame mounts and say that they will support their dslr bodies just with adapters if it will make financial sense to them. I bet it will happen in their consumer DSLR setup at some point because mirror less bodies are much cheaper to produce.
No professional is selling their A mount bodies because there is no road map, only angry amateurs do that. A pro enters into a system because it has in it what it needs at that point, and not at some point in the future. So, the small number of pros that use A mount use it for it’s unique advantages that it provides them over Canon & Nikon and nothing at Photokina happened that would change that.
>No professional is selling their A mount bodies
You must be new to this board…
I doubt that there are true professionals participating in these discussions, although today it’s really easy to call yourself a professional in photography…
However, I still think that any professional that bought into A-mount because of expectations of something to come and wasn’t there at that point didn’t have much business sense at all. And certainly doesn’t have it by selling it’s gear now and moving to Canon/Nikon.
The only professionals I see here are professional whiners. 🙂
And professional keyboardists! Lol!
Sony learns nothing by its mistakes so is doomed to keep repeating them.
The tunnel vision approach towards profit insures that they will lose thier estsblished customers..therfore lose thier profit.
Sony’s non inclusion of A mount in thier new E mount systemshould have occured before the first E mount was ever released.
Instead Sony desighned a camera that is not FULLY comapatable with iether non Sony or Sonys own customers products.
From day one everyone has been telling them this…still no IBIS and no fully compatable AF.
the AF shoud work fully functionally at its highest speed on any lens with just a physical converter.
Sony is so narrowmindedly focused on maximizing profit they cant see that.
They think they can trick consumers into buying thier product because it is compable with everything but then switch them to E mount because it works better.
Its the standard classic bait and switch stratagy.
Instead of simply providing a better product Sony resorts to dishonest methods to switch people to thier product that dont really want it.
They used thier film devision to force people to buy blue ray instead of HD video…they tried to force people to buy thier proprietary memory cards…they are now on a massive scale trying to force people to buy E mount lenses…not by just making better lenses but by partly dissabling every other lens so it will not work as good as the native E mount lens.
You can fool some of the people all the time
You can fool all of the people some of the time
You cant fool all of the people all of the time.
Thats what Sony cant understand…
They figure out really clever ways to fool everyone.
E mount from day one has been a bait and switch camera..
A good quality product that is compatable with every lens made…but once you buy it..E mount lenses work better ..switch to them.
Stop the bait and switch.
E mount should really be fully compatable not partly compatable.
People know the truth…some will continue to deny it others know it is true but you cannot keep up this dishonest bait and switch con game called E mount.
Oh wait, you must have missed this part.
“Anyhow, this bad news has nothing to do with the imaging business which is doing pretty fine! I think at worse Sony will have to get rid of the smartphone division but sincerely, I don’t think this will happen.”
Sony took a write down on their smart phone business. I would hazard a guess that the E-mount line of cameras right now may be their best performing product line. Myself and everybody I know that has an E-mount didn’t fell “forced” to buy it. We bought it because it provided amazing IQ in a small size at an attractive price and afforded us the ability to grow a system from it if desired. I know dozens of Emount users and only one has previously had an A-mount camera.
Agree. PS4 seems to do great too. I am planning on getting one. They litteraly obliterated XBox One
Hi Barry,
The interchangeable lens market is diversifying, rather than one camera format replacing another. SLR, mirror-less, and medium format cameras will coexist for the foreseeable future.
The next wave of interchangeable lens cameras that will likely disrupt the market will be affordable medium format cameras like the Pentax 645Z. As medium format prices drop is very likely that some of us will begin adopting this technology, and our dependency on FF 35mm sensors will be further reduced.
This supposed war between SLR, and mirror-less is laughable, when the real shift in technology will likely be between 35mm sensors, and medium format sensors for those of us who are professional.
What I would rather see is 36mm x 36mm square.
The adantages..
Can be shot vertical, horizontal, or full.
Existing lenses can be used…some have baffles in rear which I hope can be removed or replaced with square baffle…replacement square baffles can be coated with carbon nanofiber materiel that absorbs virtually 100% of light hitting it.
Do not have to decide verticle/horizontal format in the fieid but can choose later.
Bigger selection, lower cost, smaller size lighter wieght,already owned lenses.
New lenses can be optimized for this format but still work on current A mount, canon mount nikon mount etc.
Dissadvantage..
Slightly larger camera ..but being mirrorless would compensate.
Corner coverage issues…but only relevent for square format and firmware/sofware can be created to fit.
I would like to see this as an alternative to medium format….I think it would be more popular than medium format because it would appeal to serious hobbyists as well as pros..whereas mf would primarily apeal to only pros.
It would have a negative impact on an already declining mf market but new technology would proved better quality in this new size than current quality in MF
Another pluss to 36x36mm is that it would ensure continuatiion of A mount because E mount is too small for this format.
Sony needs to keep updating the software for mid range and entry level
phones and not drop them as soon as new models are launched. New phones have to be launched further apart in time and, of course,
they need to strongly market this.
I did try to look for Z2 phone under AT&T site but there was no Sony phones at all, Sony did a very stupid strategy go bring their phones to consumers under carrier’s subsidy, this killed their smartphone sales, while you can find apple or samsung phones under ANY carriers, who wants to buy an Android phone with full price??? stupid sony mobile sale marketing devision!!!! Fire them all!!!
Apparently they are starting to remedy this, rumor has it that T-mobile will carry the Z3.
Let’s talk about Sony Xperia Zx camera.
I bought it for the camera, and definitely the camera is overhyped, they crammed too much megapixels for marketing sweetness at the cost of significant noise.The G-ness of the lens? Never felt any of the G in my photos.
You know what’s their problem? A plethora of models. They released the Z2 in January…and this month they released a new flagship…what tha hell… Why don’t they keep it an annual cycle?
Release a phone with a beautiful full hd screen and a curved sensor camera and I will buy that straight away.
Best selling phones, Samsung.
Best selling cameras, Canon.
Best selling TVs, LG & Samsung.
Best selling laptops, everybody but Sony.
At least playstation business is good 🙂
Sony has closed Vaio and separated the TV business.
Mobile is struggling and may be cut off.
Playstation business will go down when Steam Machines arrive.
So, imaging department…
bs.. steam machine is only a pc with a controller connected to a pc nothing new or substantial there.. plus why the heck you include the imaging department there..
Nope.
PC is better in all aspects than consoles, but piracy makes is financially unattractive for developers.
SteamMachines will solve this with it’s Linux-based SteamOS.
But this is off-topic.
Dear Sony: I noticed you are going to offer a special 28 dollar screw driver for your new Loxia lenses. After carefully reviewing your financials I will be purchasing 50 and mailing them off to your headquarters. It’s apparent that you are the ones that are truly screwed.Hopefully this will help with removing the shards of Canikon metal from your assss.
Both its camera, and sensor divisions posted significant revenue. Sony should immediately stop selling smart phones, and tablets. They’ll never stand a chance against Apple Inc, and Samsung, so why even bother.
They are really going to be “Struggling” when all of the A-Mount users never buy anything Sony again such as myself.
Its funny to hear the A-Mounters whine when the Canon users are universally praising the A77II, and they have generally agreed that the A-Mount has the best APS-C sports SLR on the market.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54405961
Oh and BTW everyone is laughing at you clowns (a-mount disbelievers) on the real forums!!!
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54412540