::::Sony to phase out feature phones by Sept::::

<div class=&quot;custm_img_blk&quot;><img src=&quot;http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337827955_temp.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; /></div><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&nbsp;</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>Sony</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&nbsp;Mobile Communications (India), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese technology giant Sony, has decided to phase out</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>feature phones</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&nbsp;(non-smart mobile phones) by the end of September to focus solely on the fast-growing smartphone segment, a company official said Wednesday.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&quot;The smartphone segment is growing by a compound annual growth rate of nearly 70 per cent. We as a company want to focus only on this segment. By the end of September this year, we plan to phase out all our feature phone models,&quot; the company's managing director P. Balaji told reporters on the sidelines of a programme here.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&quot;The decision to phase out feature phones was taken a few quarters back and is being implemented now. There are six-seven feature phone models of the company in the market currently,&quot; said Balaji.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>The company's cellular arm -&nbsp;</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>Sony Ericsson</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&nbsp;which was a joint venture with Sweden's LM Ericsson - October 2011 became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Japanese company.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>The company, which launched its&nbsp;</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>smartphones</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&nbsp;under the&nbsp;</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>Xperia</span><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&nbsp;brand, owned by the erstwhile Sony Ericsson, will continue to use the brand to market its products.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>&quot;Though volume wise, smartphones contribute only 10 per cent of the sales, value wise their share is nearly 40-45 per cent. We, therefore, want to tap the huge potential of this segment,' added Balaji.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>The company, which imports its products from three manufacturing units in Japan, China and Mexico, ruled out setting up a production unit in India.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style=&quot;text-align: left&quot;>The company also unveiled three new models of its smartphones.</span>

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