Feb 29 2008
Answers From Mr Komiyama - CEO At SE
Posted by 
Loading ...Back in the end of 2007, I asked our readers what their question would be if they had the chance to ask Sony Ericsson’s new CEO, Hideki Komiyama, a question. I then picked out a set of 10 questions, and passed it on to the new and busy CEO. Today I’ve received answers on six of the questions, while the others have been passed on to the corresponding sections at Sony Ericsson for a later reply. You’ll find the answered questions after the break.
I have marked out some of the most interesting stuff in the answers.
- Question number 3
Mr. Komiyama
It seems SE has been so preoccupied with producing low level phones to increasing market share and you have unacceptable delay to producing high level phones such as N95, iPhone, U600, Prada, Armani and also Adidas phones rivals. This policy affected your market share growth also. Why don’t you push the consumers to your SE great products as you did it before by producing innovative products?
Actually you’re the first person I’ve heard say that we’ve been preoccupied with producing low level phones. Until the most recent past, the general perception and opinion about Sony Ericsson has been that we are a niche manufacturer capable of producing only mid to high-level phones. Your opinion doesn’t seem to be in line with the general perception of our company. We have actually broadened our portfolio a lot over the past 12 to 18 months, and have announced a much larger number of lower priced phones than in the past. Perhaps you have been following our product announcements and this has created a certain opinion.
Innovation is at the heart of everything we do and I hope you’ve seen or experienced our latest product offerings. Design, features, applications, content and services are all important differentiators for us. Our leading position in music, with our Walkman brand of phones, and in imaging, with our Cyber-shot brand of phones, has been recognised. In fact, at the February 2008 Mobile World Congress the GSMA recognised our success in 2007 by awarding us with the ‘Best Handset’ award for our W910 Walkman music phones. I think this is saying something about Sony Ericsson as a leading global company.
- Question number 4
Mr. Komiyama,
What are your plans on advertising SE products for 2008? Will we see SE advertising aggressively across all products like other top 5 players? Also, do you believe that design is THE main thing for consumers when buying products and features as mentioned by one of your officials?
It is our company policy not to announce marketing plans so I will not share our plans with you at this time. But I can confirm that advertising -both online, in print and on TV- are all tools that we will continue to use going forward. What’s important for us is to engage with our consumers and to create an energised user experience via our phones, in terms of features, applications, content and services. In everything we do we try to promote the ‘Sony Ericsson differentiation’ which includes product design as well as features, applications, content and services. Design is important, but not for design’s sake; I believe design needs to be functional as well.
- Question number 5
What is Sony Ericsson’s view on Apple in regards to their attempt to enter the mobile market and their product design (usability, ‘fun’, aesthetics) which has been well received by consumers?
It’s obvious that Apple’s iPhone is proving to be a very attractive product for consumers - despite its lack of features, its ease of use and enjoyment are enough to make people think that it’s worth its fairly hefty price tag. Instead of denying the technological backwardness of the iPhone, Sony Ericsson should accept that having a very easy to use phone with some ‘wow’ factor is what consumers want, rather than waiting too long and coming out with a ‘copycat’ product which will be out far too late.
So far this year we have announced some of the most exciting and innovative products in the industry. Innovation is very important to Sony Ericsson, and when you study our products you will find that they have a number of original features such as gesture control, shake control, both of which bring a sense of ‘wow’ and fun to consumers. Applications and services such as Track ID and PlayNow Arena enable users to get the most out of our phones. And let’s not forget that we’ve announced some very innovative form factors such as clamshell, stick and slides, including the arch shaped slider of our new sub-brand phone, the XPERIA X1 model.
In short, we know all about creating a ‘wow’ factor with consumers. Having sold 57 million Walkman branded music phones since launch in mid-2005 to the end of 2007, I believe we understand consumer tastes. Our Cyber-shot imaging phones have also been successful; we’ve sold 18 million Cyber-shot branded imaging phones from mid-2006 to the end of 2007.
With the convergence of mobile communications, web and entertainment, Sony Ericsson is in the best position to delivery a seamless and energised user experience.
- Question number 6
How does Sony Ericsson intend to differentiate itself from the other phone manufacturers for the next two years? Sony Ericsson has done a fantastic job differentiating itself in terms of its strength of music and the camera, and in terms of its unique designs. However, customers have become more complex, and would require more functionality and complexity in their phones.
Please refer to the answers to the above two questions. They will give you an example of how we are differentiating ourselves from our competitors. Actually, based on what we know of consumer preferences, not all consumers want more complex functions or features in their phones. They may wish to have advanced phones, but they don’t necessarily want to see or even understand the technology behind the features. In general we are finding that consumers want choice, and for this reason we offer a full portfolio of product offerings, from high-end phones such as the XPERIA X1 to some more competitively priced phones with radio features such as the models we announced in January this year, which were inspired by and made for markets such as India.
- Question number 7
Sony Ericsson seems to have the best hope of taking over Samsung and Motorola in the rankings of phone manufacturers. How does Sony Ericsson aim to move into the top three ranks? Is that a goal for 2008 and does Sony Ericsson sees it as achievable? Also, LG is proving to be a strong competitor to Sony Ericsson, with its strong growth this year. How does Sony Ericsson intend to fight off the competition?
Our ambition is to become a top 3 global player by 2010. This is something I announced in mid-January this year. We have a clear strategy for how we believe we can achieve our ambition and are starting to put our words into action via the types of product announcements we have so far this year. Please study our products and experience them at a retailer near you.
- Question number 10
Dear Mr. Komiyama,
Would like to ask why the best of your latest phones like W960/P1 are not compatible with the USA 3G networks? Will the future phones support the full USA market?
The US market is an important market for Sony Ericsson, and earlier this year I visited the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to be on hand at our product announcements. We announced some great new products which have been optimized for the US market, and I took this opportunity to confirm to the media I met that we are committed to the US market. The reality is that only a few operators in this market are working in the GSM world, and as you know several years ago we withdrew from the CDMA market. Please continue to watch our progress in the US market.
Furthermore, Mr Hideki Komiyama had a few additional comments, he’d like to have passed on to you.
I was pleased to have attended my first Mobile World Congress this year. One of the important trends I noticed at this show was that of integration of mobile technologies, applications, user interfaces and software. I also realized that partnerships with operators are key, and this is something that Sony Ericsson has been focusing on for quite some time. I also sensed a feeling of enthusiasm from operators in general, and their growing desire to integrate services into our phones. I believe greater user experience from Sony Ericsson will help operators to drive their business. Lastly, I received feedback from operators that we were bold to introduce a new platform and a new sub-brand at this year’s show, referring to our announcement of XPERIA and the X1 phone.
Filed under: 
Loading ...
my compliments….Michell
8:17 pm on 2/29/08Hold on.. “corresponding sections”? There’s actually some movement going on here? Overwhelmed.
8:58 pm on 2/29/08Great! Thanks, Michell!
10:35 pm on 2/29/08Oh, and a big thanks to Mr. Komiyama!
i think this guy is better than flint
11:28 pm on 2/29/08thanks a ton to Michell! and Mr. Komiyama
11:39 pm on 2/29/08My pleasure, guys
There might be other rounds like this in the future - quicker replies, though, I promise! I was told that Dick would be happy to answer more of these types of questions from readers
11:43 pm on 2/29/08wow!! thats great to hear from the prez!
12:06 am on 3/1/08Finally!
Thanks Mr Komiyama (and Michell as well).
I’m not completely satisfied with the answers, though then again, there’s only so much that you can expect a CEO to say about his company.
eg. In response to (my) Q5, it seems a tad arrogant from SE to say that they know ‘all’, despite the fact that iPhone has managed to be the world’s most desirable phone.
2:25 am on 3/1/08Thanks to those who submitted questions and to Mr Komiyama for answering them.
2:46 am on 3/1/08Thanks, Michell.
I will agree with shaliron that the answers are completely unsatisfying.
What good is “innovation” when:
1) SE Customer Support/Service is absolutely atrocious and non-existent,
2) Numerous bugs in the phone’s firmware at initial release,
3) Subsequent firmware updates don’t fix the actual issues, but actually introduce new bugs,
4) SE dropping support of a phone w/in a year and
5) Re-writing the white papers to remove features when SE cannot deliver them on the phone’s release.
How about some humility and admit that SE has dropped the ball on many, many issues? For example, SE screwed the owners of the P990 and M600 with insufficient RAM, poorly developed & tested firmware, and no acknowledgment of these issues.
How about acknowledging the Open Letter that was sent by members of the My-Symbian forum and can be viewed at:
http://www.bli.com.ar/openletter/open.html
http://my-symbian.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34441
http://my-symbian.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34461
I also take offense to his statement, “They may wish to have advanced phones, but they don’t necessarily want to see or even understand the technology behind the features.” What complete nonsense! It’s obvious that Mr. Komiyama does not know the audience that this blog, My-Symbian.com, Esato and Developer World @ SE has. We are the hardcore users, innovators and early adopters of technology…and in this case SE phones. We know exactly what can or cannot be done with our phones.
I look forward to SE’s response to my question - Question #2 - and to my open letter and threads:
http://developer.sonyericsson.com/thread.jspa?threadID=40658&tstart=0
http://developer.sonyericsson.com/thread.jspa?threadID=40448&start=0&tstart=0
http://developer.sonyericsson.com/thread.jspa?threadID=41416&tstart=75
7:40 am on 3/1/08Shaliron,
Well, they do have lots of stuff up their sleeves.
9:06 am on 3/1/08awl168,
I must disagree with you. Answers are not useless nor unsatisfying (for me at least).
Regarding your issues, I will not comment on that as that would lead to a longer discussion here, and I do not have time for that.
Regarding that comment, you’re soooo wrong. 99 % of all mobile users doesn’t have a clue about what their phone’s operating system is, or what it’s good for. Then there is that little 1 percent or less of the public who knows a bit more about it.
To be honest, I’m quite sick of hearing about all these “problems” and whatever it is. If you want technology, then don’t stick with one brand - that’s how it is and have been for decades now.
9:22 am on 3/1/08@Michell
Fingers crossed that they’re the right thing, because from the responses that we received, it seems as though SE is either becoming complacent or arrogant.
Mr Komiyama compared gesture control (which is, for the most part, a gimmicky feature) and PlayNow being comparable to the iPhone’s intuitive interface, web browser and mobile iTunes. I mean, it’s fairly obvious who knew more about what consumers wanted last year in terms of the mobile business.
I guess I’m just not satisfied with the fact that SE/Mr. Komiyama didn’t direct answer the question, which was basically the iPhone and what SE is going to do.
2:03 pm on 3/1/08Please stop comparing stuff with iPhone, as I’d rather not end up listing all the stuff it lacks and all the stuff that are pure gimmicks.
I will not defend SE. If you’ve got a problem with SE, then go for Apple and their crap phone for crying out loud…
Edit - and when you don’t listen, your comments will end up getting deleted.
2:06 pm on 3/1/08@Michell
My comment was not about 99% of mobile phone users. Let me quote: “It’s obvious that Mr. Komiyama does not know the audience that this blog, My-Symbian.com, Esato and Developer World @ SE has. ”
It would be nice if SE would acknowledge us and our reported issues. That Mr. Komiyama has answered some of the questions is appreciated. Going the next step of commenting on reported issues is only common courtesy. I believe you would agree with that.
I realize that you are tired of hearing about these “problems” - both here and in other forums. How do you think the consumer who has to live with these problems feel? The reason we still get these complaints is because SE won’t comment or acknowledge it.
We can agree to disagree, but the reason I rant is b/c I am passionate about SE. I see so much potential for SE; but to date, SE has not fulfilled that potential. Instead, it has disappointed.
“Becoming a top 3 global player by 2010″ is a worthy goal and I hope SE gets there. However, it’s not just about product announcements and releasing flashy products from low to high end. It’s about solid commitment to the products being released, a strong customer support experience, a willingness to listen to consumers (not just the telecoms), first class development and QA, etc.
6:05 pm on 3/1/08awl168,
As said, it’s not about us - the ones who care about our phones in greater detail - it’s about the normal consumer. That’s what he means when he says that their impression is that people want advanced features, but don’t need to know about it.
About the problems - just forget about it. P990 is an ancient phone, and it’s obvious that SE don’t want to comment on it, possibly also because of this fact. You all knew that the P990 came with 64 MB RAM, so if that wasn’t enough for you, then you should not have bought it. I however agree that there have been probs with UIQ 3, but they fixed them.
If everyone thinks that they know what it takes, then I’d suggest them to file a job application
Obviously, SE is doing well, and will be going forward for lots of years to come.
6:13 pm on 3/1/08Ummm, Michell
I have NOTt posted any comments up to now. I presume you’re referring to awl168 - who is someone other than myself.
Perhaps you could edit your comments ?
Thanks
6:22 pm on 3/1/08Sorry about that Sally, I mistakenly mixed up your user names
7:43 pm on 3/1/08Obviously I’ve been sounding like a broken record for far too long
Thanks Michell
7:56 pm on 3/1/08I was only looking forward for the answer of Question No:1 (P990)
BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.
And the answers were pointless.
Answer 3…innovation(re-cycling their old technology with minimum innovation for past 12-18 months).Innovation also includes something no other manufacturer has put on the shops.. (gsm winner …lol…W910 is thin alright and has a non autofocus 2mpx cam and shakeme??i would be happy with a wired lcd remote than shake me feature)
Answer 4 …ahh…stupid question..not worth discussing.
Answer 5..feature wise P1 is a better product than iphone(my views)…but have to agree that it doesn’t have a wow factor.Its fun playing with ts of iphone,nice browser etc…these 2 featurs alone beat SE’s innovations in past year(something no other manufacturer offers) namely track id,shake me etc.There has been no WOW factor in their phones…i think the best cybershot till now is k800 and best walkman are w810,w900 and w960.
Cybershot and walkman had WOW factors …when they were launched…it has lost its shine.SE needs to do something to keep people still interested in them.
Lets NOT talk about xperia till it hits the store.
Answer 6…why cant we have as many high and mid end phones as low end phones??They have completely ignored the P series after the crap P990(Learning the problems in p990 and m600 and correcting it in a new phone with a 3.2mpx cam is not innovation) and again…Lets NOT talk about xperia till it hits the store.
Answer 7…i don’t care where they stand today or tomorrow.
Answer 10…i don’t care bout us market either.
So what were questions 2,8 and 9??
For me,i only want the answer to question no 1..P990(am i repeating myself??)
12:49 am on 3/2/08Begin Quote
Obviously, SE is doing well, and will be going forward for lots of years to come.
If everyone thinks that they know what it takes, then I’d suggest them to file a job application
End Quote
If SE needs a Senior Director or VP of Product Management, I’ll entertain an offer!
12:42 am on 3/5/08Any word on when the other questions will be answered?
8:58 pm on 3/18/08They won’t be answered. I find no need to have them answered now.
11:16 pm on 3/18/08That’s too bad.
6:13 pm on 3/19/08I am a die hard fan of SE and am dying to own a SE Mobile handset but SE’s marketing strategies in India levae more questions than answers. On gets the impression that SE is not keen to market their Mobile Phones in India.
9:24 am on 5/11/08