Sony bullish over business in China

Sony Corp expects its business in China to grow strongly this year amid a market of 230 million middle-class consumers who are upgrading their consumption patterns, the company’s China president said yesterday in Shanghai.

In the first half of Sony’s fiscal year ended on September 30, the Japanese company’s revenue jumped 40 percent year on year in China on brisk sales of new-technology TVs, professional cameras, sensors used in smartphones and game devices and services.

Sony still managed to expand even as the entire domestic TV and smartphone markets faced sluggish growth close to saturation points, industry insiders said.

“It’s one of the best fiscal years for Sony China recently thanks to our products and strategies,” Takahashi Hiroshi, Sony China’s president, said in Chinese.

Sony China will continue to focus on middle or high-end users as China has “enough market space” with 230 million middle-class consumers and a “big trend” for consumption upgrade, said Hiroshi.