Middle East does like its smartphones

“We know that in Arabic countries, social media and communication is super hot, more so than anywhere else," says Sony.

Smartphone users in the Middle East and North Africa use more social media tools than anywhere else. The revelation comes from Sony, which is monitoring the user trend to develop its smartphone technology.

“We know that in Arabic countries, social media and communication is super hot, more so than anywhere else. It is something that is standing out and they have made us think of social media integration and user experience,” said Dennis van Schie, the senior vice-president and head of sales and marketing at Sony Mobile Communications.

These patterns are being used by Sony to help to develop social media integration into the applications found on its smartphones.

The Japanese company launched a new phone, the Xperia Z1 Compact at the International Consumer Electronics (CES) show in Las Vegas this week and is aiming to grow its global marketshare in smartphone sales to become the world’s No.3 vendor by value share.

According to IDC’s third-quarter results for 2013 global smartphone sales, Samsung has 31.4 per cent market share, Apple follows with 13.1 per cent, and Huawei and Lenovo are next with 4.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.

Sony is doubling its marketing budget this year and will do the same next year as well. Sales of its mobiles has grown between 30 to 40 per cent said Mr van Schie without giving any specific numbers.

“We claimed that 2013 would be a breakthrough year. It was the year we turned to profitability and sold 42 million smartphones. The growth trajectory is set to continue,” said Mr van Schie.

Over the past year Sony Mobile has expanded its reach from 11 to 23 markets. Its fastest growing markets in the Middle East and Africa are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Nigeria. For now, its focus is on sustaining growth in Japan and the European markets and then looking for growth in the developing markets.

“We will introduce products for Mena [Middle East and North Africa] in the same way we have done globally and pay more attention to our lower-end portfolio of products,” said Mr van Schie.

“Aiming at the No.3 position is a recognition of the strength of Samsung and Apple. The challenge for Sony is that many companies are aiming to get to number 3,” said Ian Fogg, the director of mobile analysis at the research firm IHS Electronics & Media.

Where Sony has the advantage according to Mr Fogg is its “One Sony” ethos, aiming to combine all the different parts of its business onto its smartphone offerings. So far it has drawn from its entertainment, imaging and gaming capabilities, a strategy that the likes of BlackBerry and HTC among others cannot offer.

During his keynote speech at CES, the Sony president and chief executive Kazuo Hirai outlined the company’s aim to focus on creating products and services that will provide a “wow” factor for users.

Surprisingly, there have not been many phone launches at this year’s CES. Alongside Sony, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent and LG were the only big companies to launch a phone at the world’s largest consumer electronics show. Instead, much of the focus has been on Ultra High Definition television and wearable devices.

“This year there has been a lot of other mobile devices being launched that are based on the mobile technology in smartphones. Companies are looking for new opportunities beyond the mature smartphone market and adjacent products are a big opportunity,” said Mr Fogg.