It’s not a secret that the smartphone sector is dominated by two names: Samsung and Apple. Not even the alliance of former mobile giant Nokia and Microsoft could challenge them. Sony (formerly SonyEriksson) have been a respectable runner-up, but that area of its business has never been a colossal money-maker. Sony is apparently hoping that a success with virtual reality will help buoy Sony’s fortunes.
In an interview with Financial Review, Sony Company President Kazuo Hirai spoke about the future of the mobile business and the reasons who Sonic is experimenting in other areas such as virtual reality (VR). He said: “A paradigm shift in how we communicate with each other occurs every 10 years or so, but if we don’t remain currently in the business then we don’t get to play or we don’t get to create the next paradigm shift of communication, we basically throw a towel in and lose all the relationships with our retailers and carriers around the world. If we did that then whatever idea we may come up with, we’re not going to be able to bring to market quickly enough.”
Hirai said that Sony was aiming towards investing in areas such as the Internet of Things and VR. He expects that the investment that Sony has already made into VR with the PlayStation VR will begin to influence the rest of the company: “It’s important that VR is successful, not just because it helps the video game business but in fact, the tide actually lifts all the Sony boats. We stand probably to benefit more than some of the other companies that are pursuing VR because we are involved in so many different aspects that touch the VR experience and the content creation.”
As part of Sony’s aim of casting it’s net wide to find the next new trend, they are supporting new ideas through the Seed Accelerator Program in the hope that some of them may become worthwhile business avenues for the company.
VRFocus will bring you further information on new Sony developments as they come in.