Sony's quarterly loss balloons on mobile woes

Sony has lost money in six of the seven past years, struggling amid intense competition from Apple Inc of the U.S., Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea and a host of other cheaper Asian rivals.

That’s a stunning reversal of fortune for the inventors of the 1979 Walkman portable player, which once symbolized the power of Japanese industry to innovate.

Seriously, Walkman was 25 years ago. The consumers gobbling up Apple, Samsung and other brand's products were not even alive then. To anyone under 35, outside of Japan, their brand basically is meaningless. Has that not dawned on anyone at Sony?

And Apple and Samsung will lose amid intense competition from Chinese brands. It's normal. It's like the things work historically.

Seriously I never used a Walkman, but Sony still makes great products, I own a galaxy but my sister has a Xperia and is a great product, now its about Markeeting, Sony flagship products are great.

Seriously, Walkman was 25 years ago. The consumers gobbling up Apple, Samsung and other brand's products were not even alive then. To anyone under 35, outside of Japan, their brand basically is meaningless. Has that not dawned on anyone at Sony?

It's written by AP. What do you expect?

Lot of young people associate Sony with perhaps Playstation. Of course, there are people who judge based on "consumer" products where they can visibily see at their nearest store completely ignoring other electronic makers that are very sound and profitable in a non consumer electronic sector.

@kiyoshiMukai: many brands can fail even though they make good products. Current brands will be someday replaced by cheaper brands whose products will have got a good level of quality. And most of these brands will be Chinese for obvious reasons, even though some people are in denial. You can find this article interesting;

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2014/11/123_167262.html

Jerseyboy, .

Got into Sony news lately? Here's another! A booming side of SONY.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/31/7136917/sony-financial-results-q2-2014

Alex80: "And Apple and Samsung will lose amid intense competition from Chinese brands"

In fantasy land, perhaps. A cheap Chinese knock-off will never outdo either of the companies you mentioned.

As for Sony -- too little, too late. Many predicted this with the XPeria, but Sony went ahead with it anyway and tried to enter the smartphone/tablet market. Fail... again.

Sony makes mobile phones? If yes, it must be sold only in Japan. I never saw one in the US.

Sony came from nowhere with great phones. Actually I have seen more xperias than samsung notes

It really is a shame about the phones, because they really are very good. The latest Xperia Z3 Compact is a phenomenal phone.

@JohnY921: Their phones are available in America. You should check them out.

I do not see Apple losing that much money in the near future, or at least not until people start to realise that there are other phones out there that are often better. However, Samsung have to be careful, because they are starting to fall into the same trap as Sony did by overpricing their products. We will see what happens, but Samsung are still in a very strong position in the very tough Android market.

"host of other cheaper Asian rivals."

With Japan's currency tanking, then why isn't Sony doing much better? Could it be price has nothing to do with it and more to do with Sony's tanking brand image? The reputation of Sony now equals to a 'has been' brand.

Sony came from nowhere with great phones. Actually I have seen more xperias than samsung notes

That's only true in Japan. Outside of Japan, totally different story.

When Sony came out with the Walkman in 1979 who ever thought they would ever make a loss? Cripes!

@smithinjapan: why are you so in denial? See:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/samsung-vows-changes-after-mobile-profit-plunges

Sony wasn't always Sony, Samsung wasn't always Samsung, Apple wasn't always Apple. Brands go up and down, they can also disappear while other competitors gain public's trust. Some time ago nobody thought Chinese could make high quality products, but this was only a stupid bias, they are able to do whatever they want and it's only natural their brands will grow in popularity in the next future. Haier, Hisense, Huawei are already brands known worldwide for their good quality despite modest prices.

No candle lasts forever. Time to change business strategies in the Mobile Dept. Even Japanese people are not buying xperia anymore. I see more galaxy and iDevices here than Xperia. It may be because of high prices and not much attractive colors and design. I myself have a galaxy note and iphone because last time i had sony xperia my software is always lagging behind those from samsung. Sometimes not even given updates! That is the main reason why i left sony and went to Samsung for their up to date updates and colors! :D

Ken KitsuneNOV. 01, 2014 - 11:55PM JST No candle lasts forever. Time to change business strategies in the Mobile Dept. Even Japanese people are not buying xperia anymore. I see more galaxy and iDevices here than Xperia. It may be because of high prices and not much attractive colors and design. I myself have a galaxy note and iphone because last time i had sony xperia my software is always lagging behind those from samsung. Sometimes not even given updates! That is the main reason why i left sony and went to Samsung for their up to date updates and colors! :D

Funny, because I go every street and I find more japanese people holding Xperia Z line of smartphones than any samsung phones, especially the Z1 and the Z2. What xperia phone did you have? Things have changed now. The Xperia Z line for example (current is Z3) looks more gorgeous and more beautiful than any plastic-built samsung phone. The processing power is much better and more room for memory. And the whites on the Z1(which I currently own) is just pure brightened hue-less color unlike the samsung which has a major drawback from using Amoled, that is the very irritating blue/green tint on the whites. And I swear to all the gods, the sofware never lagged on me.

Just to let you know, it's not only Sony who is experiencing selling phones. Samsung profit is also falling rapidly . http://www.cnbc.com/id/102134537