Getting closer to users and creators. Linking them is our hardware that bears the Sony brand: the Branded Hardware. In this blog post, I would like to touch on this Branded Hardware.

From August 31 to September 5, IFA 2018, Europe's largest consumer electronics show with a regular yearly attendance of around 250,000 visitors, was held in Berlin. Coverage of our IFA press conference and the Sony Booth exhibit can be found on Inter Sony Global. This year's show featured numerous products in keeping with our corporate direction of getting closer to users and creators. This included the MASTER Series and Signature Series, which aims to reach even greater heights in delivering Reality through Sony's cutting edge imaging and sound technologies; WH-1000XM3 headphones, which feature four times the processing power of the previous generation and achieve industry leading noise cancelling performance; Xperia XZ3, our first smartphone to feature an OLED display; and aibo's first official appearance in Europe. Each of these products was well received and enjoyed a large amount of media coverage.

I want to once again extend my heartfelt thanks to Takagi-san and Kishida-san for their speeches during the press conference and to everyone who helped put our exhibit together. None of this would have been possible without your support and hard work.

Visiting the Sony booth before the official opening

Interviewed by Japanese national broadcast station, NHK

I also had the chance to attend our European Management Dinner, held every year at the time of IFA. While there, I conveyed my appreciation to the top management of our sales companies across Europe for their outstanding recovery in performance over the past several years. I also shared my high hopes for future revenue growth through their continuing collaboration with our top European retail partners like MediaMarkt/Saturn, Expert, and Dixons, and their increased cooperation with Sony Mobile going forward.

European Management Dinner with country heads of Sony Europe
(Click image to show names of attendees)

The week after returning to Japan from IFA, I made my way to a general strategy meeting hosted by Sony Marketing (Japan) (SMOJ). The conference hall of Sony HQ building was positively teeming with many of our retail partners, who attended the event to receive information about our latest products and how to best promote them ahead of the year-end sales battle. I myself received explanations regarding some of our key products, and it was encouraging to see the confidence that radiated from our staff on the expo floor.

At the general strategy meeting

Then on the following day, I attended the Top-Conference, a management conference with our largest Japanese retail partners such as Yamada Denki, K's Holdings, Deodeo, and Yodobashi Camera alongside Takagi-san, Ishizuka-san, and Kawano-san, President of Sony Marketing. As I did in IFA, I spoke about how Sony's hardware will pursue the delivery of Reality and Real-Time value, and shared our continued efforts to pursue a premium strategy together with them. Following this conference, I also enjoyed the opportunity to get to know each company's top management in a more casual environment at the after party.

A picture from the Top-Conference afterparty

Sony's Branded Hardware business had a cumulative deficit of 262.2 billion yen during our first mid-range period (FY2012-2014), but achieved a major turnaround during our second mid-range period (FY2015-2017) with 307.5 billion yen in profits. We owe these results to our improved operations, commitment and focus to a premium strategy over the blind pursuit of scale, and through everyone's day-to-day efforts. The prime example of this is our ability to grasp the sell-out from our retail partners in real-time, and this is precisely what I mean when I talk about "getting closer to users."

In our branded hardware business, it's crucial that we get even closer to our users and creators, connect them to each other, and continuously create products that is loved by them. We must also continue collaborating with our retail partners that deliver our products to users and keep improving our operations. If we steadily maintain our efforts in those areas, I believe we will succeed in firmly positioning our Branded Hardware business as a sustainable and consistent cash flow generating business.

I look forward to working together with all of you in these endeavors and ask for your continuing support and cooperation.