Sony announced today that it has named senior vice president Hiroki Totoki as the new president of the company’s mobile division. Totoki will replace Kunimasa Suzuki as new Sony Mobile Communications head, stepping into his new role on November 16.
At the present, Totoki is the company’s corporate planning director, but starting on November 16, he will take over from Suzuki in hopes of revitalizing Sony’s smartphone business. Sluggish Xperia smartphone sales have been Sony’s bane in the broader consumer electronics space, as many have criticized the company for failing to properly market its devices in Western countries like the United States and Canada. These historically poor sales figures also have forced Sony to slash its sales forecasts earlier in the year, and have led analysts to speculate it may make another downward revision at tomorrow’s quarterly earnings call.
With Totoki poised to head Sony’s mobile division in hopes of a turnaround, it should be interesting to see if this would also mean a larger focus on Western markets. But it does appear that Sony is in need of a change, and it goes without saying that Sony’s Xperia line, including the flagship Xperia Z3, deserve much better in the Android smartphone space.