Softbank owned mobile carrier Sprint will soon be offering a Sony smartphone for the first time. The deal is designed to both give Sony’s mobile division a much needed boost and strengthen Sprint’s handset line up as it looks to stem the tide of subscribers that are heading for other waters.
Softbank is working at strengthening Sprint and enticing customers with price cuts and promotions on top of unveiling joint smartphone offerings. Sony’s been struggling to gain a foothold in the US and is also looking to revive and strengthen its mobile division. With the electronics company managing only 2.1 percent share in the global smartphone market last year, it continues to face competition from other companies that offer low-cost smartphones. T-Mobile’s the only company in the US to currently offer Sony smartphones.
The Xperia Z3 could be the first phone that Sprint offers from Sony and Softbank will make the phone available for the holiday season this winter. Sony’s expected to show off the new flagship at IFA next week.
“I can’t see this making much of a difference,” Yasuo Nakane, Deutsche Bank analyst, said.”Even if they put out a phone on Sprint, Verizon is the priority any way you think about it.”
Although other analysts were less critical and more supportive of the move.
“They haven’t been able to maintain very good relationships with carriers, unlike Samsung who has done very well,” Masahiro Ono, an analyst at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, said.
With the merger with T-Mobile failing, Softbank has vowed that Sprint would make bold moves to gain ground.
source: Reuters
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