‘We have the right portfolio'

A decade ago, two Scandinavian brands were lording it over the mobile phone industry and seemingly in a position to do so forever. But ten years can seem like ancient history in this business. Mark it down to the "smart" factor. Both brands took their time to get on to the smartphone revolution that has been sweeping over the industry and allowed others to muscle into their turfs. But it's never too late to turn things around for the industry pioneers as Sony Ericsson has been showing since the beginning of last year. A line-up of new products under the Xperia branding has been winning over customers all over again and getting the company's bottomline back into health. Spyros Gousetis, head of marketing for the Middle East operations, explains how Sony Ericsson is plotting its way back to being a strong contender. Gulf News: How has the first six months been for the industry and, more pertinently, for Sony Ericsson in the Middle East and Africa? Spyros Gousetis: It was exactly a year ago that I took up this position and the difference between what the industry saw in 2009 and what it did in 2010 are as stark as night and day. It was truly dramatic to see what the industry was going through. Just to give you an idea - 30 per cent of the volumes now make up 70 per cent of the total value of the mobile handset market in the Middle East, (including Iran but excluding North Africa). This is spectacular. In other words, phones that fall below $70 or $80 make up 70 per cent of the volumes but only 30 per cent of the value. For those manufacturers that have got on to the bandwagon of the new technologies, these numbers are telling. For Sony Ericsson, we are into the high double-digit growth in the UAE and Saudi Arabia while in Iran it is in the single-digit, but still growing at 9 per cent or thereabouts. Will there be a mobile phone industry version of the Moore's Law, where processing power doubles every few months or so? Can consumers keep up with the speed of such change? It was last year that Sony Ericsson got on the Android platform, which is extremely powerful. Last year we had software updates ever so often. In 2011 it may not be like that. Things have to settle down a bit. The processing power on the current handsets is quite good. Let's take a scenario: how many people do you find using a phone and at the same time listening to music, doing things on Facebook and using a gaming application? I can't say the average mobile handset user multi-tasks to a great extent. You can possibly play a game and talk at the same time. But four functions at once? I don't know about that. Some of the competition plays with limited number of handsets. What's Sony Ericsson's strategy on its handsets? We want to give choice, but we want to do so based on the needs and the budget someone has. At the same time we need to be consumer relevant. For us to be consumer relevant in today's world, we have to have some sort of differentiating proposition. To be true to what the brand represents of having the most entertaining brand of handsets we have to be consumer relevant to do so. It cannot have handsets that do not feature the technology or the materials that would do justice to the brand. It means that Sony Ericsson is not going to make any phones below $50, it can even be $60 or $70. What we have are the Xperia Arc, selling at Dh2,399, and Xperia Play, launched in March and retailing for Dh2,900. At the same time, we have Xperia models in the $150 plus range and that's the price band we are comfortable with. Xperia is most definitely at the heart of our strategy. Sony Ericsson took to the Android platform last year. How would rate the acceptance levels in the region? Having gone through a rough patch in the two years before, 2010 was when the company got back into the black. The Android platform was a big factor. In the region, since we did not have the Arabic language interface and Google Market the marketplace with more than 2,000 applications available last year, we did not see the spectacular results that we had in other parts of the world. Fortunately it's not the case now. We brought out the Arabic interface and the Google market earlier in the year and that has brought the brand to a leading position in the region. Being something new, there's quite a lot of work to be done. Among those manufacturers selling Android we are among the top. This is what we care about. Are you working with regional apps developers? We are, and the intention is to create apps exclusively for Sony Ericsson. You talk about the brand being associated with "entertainment". Isn't there a space for an offering among corporate users? When we talk of entertainment, it's not just about music or browsing Facebook. It is about actually being entertained by your phone and in our case it becomes a business tool. Any chance of a tablet from Sony Ericsson? Sony has a tablet in the market, it complements what Sony Ericsson offers and that's how it will be. Our strategy is built around the Xperia at this point and not on the tablet. Do you see the brand reliving the glory days? We totally believe and see it happening in front of us. There were unbelievable changes brought about in the last year and the market is far from settling down. I see us climbing up the ladder; we have the right portfolio compared with what was there in the past. Given the problems we had, it will take time. But we will get there. From / Gulf News