Sony Corporation is cutting 1,000 jobs from its mobile phone division, as the Japanese electronics giant struggles to compete with Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market. Nearly two-thirds of the job cuts will fall on its Sony Mobile division in Lund, Sweden, the company said in a statement. The cuts form part of its […]
Sony Corporation is cutting 1,000 jobs from its mobile phone division, as the Japanese electronics giant struggles to compete with Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market.
Nearly two-thirds of the job cuts will fall on its Sony Mobile division in Lund, Sweden, the company said in a statement.
The cuts form part of its previously-announced plan to reduce its workforce by 10,000 by March 2013.
For the year to 31 March 2012, Sony made a record loss of $5.6bn (£3.5bn).
And in August it reported net losses for the April-to-June quarter of 24.6bn yen ($314m; £202m), compared with a loss of 15.5bn yen a year earlier.
As a result, Sony slashed its net income forecast for the year to 31 March 2013 from 30bn to 20bn yen.
Sony blames the losses on slowing demand for TVs and a strengthening yen.
New chief executive Kazuo Hirai is hoping to return the group to profitability by moving away from the saturated TV market and concentrating on gaming and mobile devices.
The move comes as Sony makes more cuts across its divisions. This week, the firm closed one of the UK’s oldest video game studios following a review of its operations.
Sony Liverpool employed about 100 workers. It dated back to 1984 when it was known as Psygnosis. The Japanese company bought the developer in 1993.
Its early titles included Barbarian and Shadow of the Beast for the Amiga and Atari ST. It also published Lemmings.
It was perhaps best known for later PlayStation releases including the Wipeout racing game series.
The unit’s last title was Wipeout 2048 for the PlayStation Vita handheld console. A message on the game’s Facebook page from the team said: “Thank you for everything, Pilots. It’s been an amazing journey and we’ll miss you.”
