Newly appointed CEO of Sony Mobile Communications, Hiroki Totoki, recently held a roundtable event for the media in Japan to talk through strategy and future of the mobile business. Judging from the sites that reported on the event, it was a wide-ranging discussion, with most points already touched on previously.
However, there was new information on Sony Mobile’s tablet business that we had not heard before. Apparently, Sony Xperia tablet devices only contributed around 5% of sales in 2013. Totoki expects this number to shrink further to 3/4% as we get closer to 2016. However, despite this, there are no plans to withdraw from the tablet market at this stage.
This news comes off the back off rumours that Sony is planning to launch a large 12-inch tablet device during the first half of 2015. Digitimes says that the tablet will feature a 12.9-inch (3840 x 2400 resolution) display, Qualcomm chipset, 8MP camera and thickness of 8.6mm. Sony will target the tablet to the premium segment with a price point that could exceed $1k.
A number of other manufacturers are rumoured to produce their own 10+ inch tablets in 2015 including Apple and Samsung. However, it would be interesting to see what kind of demand these devices see. No doubt all of these companies are going for a different market, one that will cannibalise the laptop/notebook segment. Could you see yourself needing/wanting a 12/13-inch tablet device? If so, let us know why in the comments below.
