Sony eyes Rs 250 cr Xperia sales in AP

The company lining up a 10-inch tablet for launch in May this year

Consumer electronics major, Sony India, is expecting to garner Rs 250-crore sales of its Xperia smartphone range in Andhra Pradesh, where the smartphone market is estimate at 1.8 million units in the next financial year, said Sachin Thapar, business head (Xperia).

“We have allocated a budget of Rs 21 crore to promote Xperia and to increase our channel coverage from 370 to 550 outlets in the coming year.We expect Andhra Pradesh to contribute 7% to our overall Xperia sales in India next fiscal,” he told mediapersons here on Thursday.

The company today launched its smartphone Xperia Z, which currently operates on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean platform, in the Andhra Pradesh market. Priced at Rs 38,990, the smartphone features a 13-megapixel Cyber Shot camera and 4G LTE (long-term evolution).

Thapar said the company was lining up a 10-inch tablet for launch in May this year.

Stating that Xperia was a serious business for Sony, which currently commands a nine% share of the domestic smartphone market, he said 2013 would be a beak through year for the company which was aiming to be among the top three smartphone players in the country during the year.

“We have just started running in the business. The launch of Xperia Z is the start of our journey to triple the Xperia sales in India to Rs 3,500 crore in the next financial year,” Thapar said, adding that the company had also tripled the Xperia marketing budget to Rs 300 crore for FY14.