Sony Mobile expects more growth in China

China's smartphone market, with its tantalizing potential, is expected to serve as a promising place for the newly formed Sony Mobile Communications despite growing competition, said the company's China head.

Sony Ericsson was renamed Sony Mobile Communications after the Japanese entertainment giant Sony Corp finalized its divorce with Swedish mobile network giant Ericsson in February, completing the acquisition of the latter's 50 percent share in the mobile phone joint venture.

The business is extremely competitive in the Chinese market, with both domestic and overseas smartphone makers battling for a bigger slice of the promising market. But Sony's recent acquisition of Ericsson has been an encouraging step for the company in its quest for more opportunities in the market, Magnus Ahlqvist, president of Sony Mobile Communications in China, said in an interview in Beijing Tuesday, during the release of a slew of new products under the Sony brand for the Chinese market.

Sony Mobile revealed Tuesday its first phone powered by the latest Android 4.0 system destined for China exclusively.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Sony Ericsson held a 2.5 percent share in China's smartphone market, trailing top vendors such as Samsung and Nokia with 22 percent and 15.3 percent market shares, respectively, according to the latest data from Beijing-based market research firm Analysys International.

"Sony has established a strong presence here in China, with good market position and brand recognition. And being fully integrated into Sony Group could enable our division to incorporate entertainment assets from Sony in a much more streamlined way than before," Ahlqvist said.

The integration would also serve to spur collaboration between different product lineups from Sony, also the maker of popular products including PlayStation gaming consoles, tablets, VAIO notebooks and BRAVIA TVs, helping drive synergy across products to gain an edge over rivals, he noted.

Sony Mobile will be a key part of Sony Group, which aims for more overlap between different business units to integrate into "One Sony," Kazuo Hirai, the newly appointed president and chief executive of Tokyo-based Sony, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in late February.

The Sony Xperia S LT26i, the first smartphone bearing the Sony name that was announced in January, has seen promising results in terms of sales in the Chinese market, according to Ahlqvist, who believes it is an indication of a good start for the new brand in the market.

He did not disclose the exact sales figures, citing company policy.

"China's market is extremely important to us, and this year we are stepping up a lot of marketing investments here," Ahlqvist said, as the new mobile brand is not an exception among many phone makers that have hinged hopes on growth in China.

China already surpassed the US to become the world's largest smartphone market in the second half of last year, and such momentum is expected to continue this year and in the years to come, according to a report released last week by the US-based market research firm IDC.