TOKYO-- SoftBank Corp. will carry Sony Corp.'s latest
smartphone, the two companies confirmed on Wednesday, possibly
giving the heavily diversified electronics maker's struggling
mobile business a lift.
The Wall Street Journal reported in August that SoftBank will
likely sell the Xperia Z3 for the first time in Japan, and also in
the U.S., through its subsidiary Sprint Corp. A SoftBank spokesman
said that Wednesday's announcement just pertains to the domestic
market.
Sony's flagship smartphone comes with high-resolution audio,
4K-video and PlayStation 4 remote play functions. It will be
available from November and will be free of charge in Japan for
people switching from other carriers after the completion of a
two-year contract.
It was only last month that Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai apologized to
investors after the company said its projected net loss for the
fiscal year ending in March next year would expand to Yen230
billion ($2.12 billion)--almost five times what it said previously.
Sony blamed the company's mobile business, which Mr. Hirai said was
struggling due to increasing competition. At the news conference,
he said the company will be focusing on premium models rather than
entry models, and it will be selective on which markets it sells
the Xperia smartphone to.
The announcement means all three major Japanese mobile-phone
carriers--SoftBank, NTT Docomo Inc. and KDDI Corp.--will sell
Sony's smartphones. Analysts say the key for Sony to prop up its
mobile business is to have a presence in big markets like the U.S.
Sprint is very likely to announce they will sell the Xperia soon,
people familiar with the situation said.
Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com
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