The world’s second-largest maker of consumer electronics aims to double its revenue in Brazil, Russia, India and China within three years by bolstering sales in seven main businesses including Bravia televisions and Blu-ray disc players.
Sony’s plans for sales of electronics to so-called BRIC nations will rise to 1.2 trillion yen (US$11.1 billion) by the 12 months ending March 31, 2011, from 600 billion yen last fiscal year.
Speaking in Tokyo, Sony chairman and CEO, Howard Stringer, was presenting the company’s mid-term corporate strategy, which included the first concrete details on the plan for on-demand video content, including a launch window of later this summer.
After touting an installed base of 50 million network-enabled PS3 and PSP units and a plan to achieve profitability this year, Stringer outlined a large-scale video service for Sony’s entire empire.
The as-yet-unnamed video store is described as a “premium film and TV service”. Aside from Sony titles, no other content deals have been announced.
Stringer also said Sony expects its Blu-ray Disc-related business to approach US$ 10 billion in annual revenue within three years, while returning its games and liquid-crystal display TV operations to profitability.
The company’s goal is to add Blu-ray-related operations to its portfolio of “trillion yen businesses” (US$ 9.27 billion), which include LCD TVs, gaming and mobile phones, by the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011.
“We are very pleased with the cross-divisional cooperation that led the success of the Blu-ray format,” said Howard Stringer. “Blu-ray Disc has positive implications for our hardware, software and game business.”
He estimated that 15 million Blu-ray players and PlayStation 3 game consoles, which include the players, have been sold worldwide.
Earlier this month, Sony said its electronics division’s operating income for the year ended March 31 more than doubled to 356 billion yen (US$ 3.3 billion) as electronics sales rose 8.9 per cent to 6.61 trillion yen (US$ 61.3 billion). The company didn’t specify Blu-ray-related sales or earnings.
Additionally, Sony expects its liquid-crystal-display TV business to be the world’s largest within three years.
For the first quarter, Sony’s 13 per cent market share trailed only Samsung’s 20 per cent among global LCD TV units, though in North America, the company was leap-frogged by closely held Vizio.
“Three years ago, we had no significant presence in the LCD TV business,” said Stringer. “Today, we are competing well for first place for worldwide market share due to the strength of our Bravia lineup.”
Finally, the company said 90 per cent of its electronics categories would be both network-connectable and wireless-enabled in an attempt to capitalize on its leadership position in LCD TVs, high-definition DVD players and game consoles.
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