Kazuo Hirai has replaced Howard Stringer as the CEO of Sony and it will be interesting to see how big a role mobile will play under his leadership, especially now that Sony is poised to completely take over the Sony Ericsson phone-making business.
“I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success,” Stringer said in a prepared statement.
Sony has its fingers in nearly every electronics pie out there including TVs, laptops, phones, gaming machines, tablets, Walkmen and more but it’s been struggling recently. Sony was long considered the high-end brand in many electronics but Apple has taken that mantle in many areas, particularly in computers and with the iPod.
That’s why the move to buy out Sony Ericsson and bring it under the Sony brand could be very important for its future, as the smartphone and tablet spaces are definitely the hottest in consumer electronics and some consistently great products in these categories could help Sony regain that high-end reputation. Unlike some of the other Android tablet makers, Sony has a strong content ecosystem of its own that it can offer with its devices.
It will be a while before Hirai’s impact is fully felt throughout Sony, so you can be sure we’ll keep an eye on this one.
