Dumbest Move in Smartphone Marketing This Year - Sony Rebrands Xperia Z4 Into Something Less

This is sheer madness at Sony. I can't believe they did this, and more than that, I can't belive they would make such a massive - unforced - marketing blunder now. Now. When they were about to have their Razr Moment of quick market gains while the rivals stumble, and also while Sony has fired over 1,000 people so there is confusion in the ranks and that is when you want stability from the strategy. This is such an epic mistake, this is 'Eloppian' as in the worst CEO of all time, Stephen Elop over at Nokia its shortest-duration CEO who wrecked their growing and highly profitable handset business. And hat tip to Ewan Spence who wrote about this over at Forbes last week.

What is going on? The Sony Xperia Z4 was set to be the top dog, at least briefly, in the Android army and arguably the best smartphone in the world. The Apple iPhone launch cycle is peculiar with their phones released only once per year (I expect as Apple expands its product portfolio, it will move away from this rather bizarre pattern and give us some new model/models also in the Spring to even out its iPhone business per quarter rather than having that sales spike once per year). So we already see looking from Kantar numbers comparing this ended period to Kantar numbers from Q1 (ending March) that iPhone sales are down - that is normal pattern no reason to panic - but also Windows Phone ie Microsoft Lumia is down. That means what, it means Android sales are up (Kantar reports by market share and only by OS).

So its a good time to be an Android maker right now. And what about their big dog, Samsung? Samsung stumbled badly with the redesign of the flagship Galaxy S6. While it was smart to move away from the plasticky materials that seemed cheap compared to the rivals, Samsung in some silly management brain-fart decided to abandon several competitive advantages the Galaxy series had held over the iPhone for many years. The Galaxy S5 was waterproof (the S6 is not), the S5 had a removable microSD slot that allows users to instantly swap memory including videos and pictures etc both for themselves and between other smartphones the user has, and swap content between other users (except not iPhones). And suddenly the S6 doesn't have a microSD slot. And finally, the S5 had a removable battery, the S6 doesn't. Again this is no big deal in the most advanced economies where electricity supply is always reliable (and this is where most iPhones are sold), but much of Samsung's global market is in the Emerging World where electrical supply is not reliable and a removable battery is a great sales advantage. Samsung voluntarily threw away three competitive advantages, while changing the casing materials for the Galaxy S6. Why? What sense was there in that? These were not mutually exclusive, Samsung could have made good materials and good-looking Galaxy S6 class - WITH waterproofing, microSD support and removable battery. To add to its arsenal a better build material while keeping those competitive advantages loyal Galaxy buyers have come to belove and to expect. 

I predicted when the Galaxy S6 (and Edge) were released that their sales would disappoint. It would still sell well but this was not good enough to recapture growth to Samsung. They would yes remain as the biggest smartphone maker, but voluntarily abandoning several competitive advantages was a stupid move that would hurt Samsung. And I said the biggest wins would go to those brands that had a flagship closest to the Galaxy class, but which had those features. The LG G4 has the removable battery and microSD slot (but not waterproof). The LG is sold worldwide, it would take some of that lost business and LG should be seeing a nice surge of those Android users coming to buy the G4. And the other winner? The Sony Xperia Z4 which didn't do the removable battery but did do the waterproofing and the microSD slot. While Sony doesn't sell in all markets anymore it should still see a healthy rise in its business, and I went so far as to promise that on the published specs of the Sony Xperia Z4, it would get to rule as the best Android smartphone of the whole pack, and I urged Sony to rush the Z4 to the market fast.

Some rushed to this blog and on Twitter argued with me that waterproofing, microSD and removable battery don't matter. That the Galaxy S6 and Edge are so beautiful, they will bring huge sales to Samsung. I said maybe, I stand by my prediction. Now we are seeing the early evidence. There are reports that Galaxy sales to the channel have been strong but sales to end-users have been weak. So the love of the shiny new object has indeed produced shipments from Samsung to the store, but in the store we see consumers trying out rival phones and the new Galaxy is suffering. Very fresh reporting from South Korea says that Samsung has reduced Galaxy production by 16% (one sixth!) because demand is so soft and the channel has so much unsold inventory. The growing consensus among Samsung-watchers is that the new Galaxy S6 has not reignited a huge boom for Samsung in ways that past S4 and older Galaxies did and rather the S6 now seems destined to be a disappointment flagship like the Galaxy S5.

THE ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY FOR XPERIA

Thats your competition Sony. Stumbling. On a self-induced error. And you, with your Xperia Z4 have the best rival to steal business from loyal Galaxy owners, to take business from the biggest Android manufacturer and capture new top-end customers. Especially those who loved the waterproofing of the Galaxy S5 and also those who want a microSD slot. By its looks, the Xperia has always had a distinctive stylish appeal so on that side Sony isn't suffering ether. The management has been quite happy with how well the Xperia Z3 has sold and briefly the loss-making handset unit even reported a profit one quarter powered by the Z3.

And the world awaits for the beautiful, top-spec flagship from Sony the Xperia Z4. It was shown to the world a few weeks ago and sales have already started in Japan. It is in reality only mild evolution from where the Z3 was but its the true top-dog smartphone and the Z4 has been receiving tech reviews calling it the best of the Android flagships. For example PCAdvisor called it a close race between the S6 and Zr but called the Z4 ow the better smartphone. The Z4 Tablet also has been rated very favorably against the latest iPad such as at Tech Times. This is what Sony had been waiting for. For once the big giant is down on its knees and the Xperia stands alone. The Z4 specifically. This is Sony's moment. Its Razr Moment when iPhone sales are in their regular annual decline period, Samsung inexplicably shot itself in the foot, and the Z4 had just hit that sweet spot, it is receiving excellent tech reviews. Now just get it to the market and sell it everywhere possible and work on the distribution (and rake in the money).

The Sony Xperia Z4 has been shown to the world. It. Yes the Sony Xperia Z4 has also already been launched and is now selling in Japan. And we, the rest of the world, were supposed to get our Xperia Z4 now in the summer. What did Sony do?

Pinheads! They rebranded it. Rebranded their flagship? Now? AFTER THE MARKETING WAS DONE? After reviewers have been raving about the Z4? Yes. Did they rebrand it into something awesome like Xperia Z5 or Xperia Playstation or Xperia Z10 (haha Microsoft Windows 8 going to Windows 10). No. Some Sony nincompoop decided to call the new global flagship something 'less than the Z4'. So they announce the Z4, then Sony give the specs of the Z4, then they launch the Z4 in Japan, but the rest of the world get... the Xperia Z3+.  The Z Three Plus. What the fuck!

You don't go BACKWARDS in your flagship numbering! Not if you want to get any market SUCCESS. Even a first-year graduate at Tokyo University knows this. When Nissan - you in Japan recognize Nissan a big Japanese car manufacturer? - when NIssan decided to give the world the newest supercar to replace the 350Z, it called it the Nissan 370Z. Bigger number equals better in this kind of marketing. I know you in Japan don't know the car by that name, In Japan its the Fairlady Z, so yes, same thing - EXACTLY the same thing, Fairlady Z33 (to us in the West known as Nissan 350Z) was updated it was called the Fairlady Z34 (aka Nissan 370Z).. If you announce the Nissan Fairlady Z34 (Nissan 370Z), then have Top Gear type TV shows test-drive the Fairlady Z34 (NIssan 370Z) and then actually sell us the Fairlady Z33 Plus (the Nissan 350Z plus) nobody is going to rush to buy that 'minor upgrade' to the past product! Instead they will WAIT for that promised awesome new Z34.

What kind of lunacy is this? Lets take another example for our marketing-challenged Japanese readers. Listen carefully. Lets take Nikon, the icon of professional cameras and one that - haha - uses Sony sensors in most of its DSLR cameras. Nikon. Its flagship professional camera line. What did they do with its branding and numbers? The Nikon D1 was their first professional DSLR camera in 1999. That series was replaced by the what? The D2 series, the D2H came out in 2003. And then Nikon replaced that line of top-of-the-line DSLR cameras with what? the D3 in 2007. And what was the line that came next? If you know how to count in Japan, you know the answer. The Nikon D4 released in 2012. Its latest iteration is the D4S which is the current top line.

In all other companies the math goes like this 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. In Sony Xperia division the math goes like htis instead Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z3plus. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!! When BMW release their newest top car they call it the 7 series, not the 5 Series Plus!. 

The phone is the same! What the world was shown as the Xperia Z4 is now to the rest of the world only the Z3 Plus. All the marketing was done to convince the world to want the Z4. Now we only are given a Z3 Plus instead. What is wrong with Sony? Do they WANT their sales to fail? This was their Razr Moment. Some who own a Z3 have been waiting eagerly to buy a Z4. Some Samsung owners who were disappointed with the Galaxy S6 were told that wait a few weeks, the brand new Sony Xperia Z4 is coming. Now they will be offered a Z3plus instead. Nobody with a Z3 will bother to buy the 'modest upgrade' Z3plus and will rather WAIT for - yes - the 'real' Z4 that will come some time much later when this exceptional moment for Sony corporation is long gone. And any owners of Xperia Z2s (or Z1s) will also see, this new box is the Z3plus - I already saw the Z3 last year and decided not to buy it, I will WAIT for the Z4.

This is OSBORNING your current product line but even worse than Osborne, this is without a newer/better product even to be shown. There is ZERO redeeming qualities to this marketing blunder. No good outcome from breaking with the successful Xperia Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 branding to now rebrand the Z4 - after it has been marketed and sold - as the Z3plus. This will not increase Z3plus sales over what Z4 could have had. It will not help in ANY instance to rebrand a BMW 7 Series as a 5 Series Plus. Some can see past it, and for some it won't matter. Others are not like that, and will think a Z3plus is an inferior product and only a mild upgrade from the Z3 - and they will not buy the Z3plus. They will wait for the Z4 or Z5 or whatever might be on offer six months or a year later. By then this opportunity of a mis-designed Galaxy S6 will be long gone and Sony's Razr Moment will be gone,

So was this smart? Was this clever? Or is this a marketing disaster even elementary marketing students can see is a blunder! The marketing boss who authorized this should resign in disgrace! Offer the resgnation today and the CEO of Sony you have to accept that resignation! I am saying this with my greatest, deepest, gravest respect of all that Japan has given the mobile industry, and the long history of excellence Sony has brought to mobile phones for several decades - and as a proud user of numerous Sony flagship products over the years including many of your top phones. I love Sony but Sony listen. This is embarrassing Sony Corportation. You are losing face! You are now a laughing stock! You are a case study in stupidity in marketing!

I first say this in phonetic Japanese, this is my message to Sony corporation after this the biggest marketing blunder of 2015 (via Google Translate):

Anata wa, anata no kaisha, sono eikō no rekishi to sono hokori isan o hazukashī sa rete imasu. Anata wa, sonī no na ni haji o motarasu to chūjitsuna sonī no kokyaku no mae de kao o ushinatte imasu. Hajiwoshire!

I also provide it in Japanese characters (I apologize for bad grammar, it is Google translate, you get my point):

あなたは、あなたの会社、その栄光の歴史とその誇り遺産を恥ずかしいされています。あなたは、ソニーの名に恥をもたらすと忠実なソニーの顧客の前で顔を失っています。恥を知れ！

And the English translation;

You are embarrassing your company, its glorious history and its proud legacy. You are bringing shame to the Sony name and losing face in front of loyal Sony customers. Shame on you!

I am appalled and disgusted and cannot understand how anyone at Sony could have approved this obvious amateurish basic marketing mistake. And it is even worse right now, as Sony is firing over 1,000 people in its handset division, so there is severe turmoil right now. What the handset division needs is stability. It is the ABSOLUTE wrong TIME to play silly rebranding games which deplete scarce marketing resources now, in a totally unnecessary (and counter-productive) change. You are fools at Sony! I am ashamed of you as a 'leader' of this industry and if this is how Sony management intends to fight in the smarttphone wars, you fell out of the Top 10, you have no place in coming back to the Top 10 if such idiots are allowed to run the handset business. 

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai-san fire that moron who made this decision to rebrand the already-marketed, already-sold Xperia Z4 as the inferior-sounding Xperia Z3plus. If that is Mike Fasulo or Hiroki Totoki or whoever it was, someone has to be fired for this. You are now a laughing stock in the tech industry. This is elementary level mistake. This is an error so grave, Stephen Elop of Nokia would make this type of errors DELIBERATELY to destroy handset sales (so he could collect his bonus)

Comments

[Stormwatch]

Fake Tomi, are you Stephen Elop? :P

[Winter]

@Tomi (real one)

I understood that your blog platform can block certain phrases. Can't you simply block your tagline "Tomi Ahonen :-)"? That would give us a simple checkmark for a genuine post.

Or would that make your own posting cumbersome?

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Winter

Haha.. hey, that person is obviously bearing a grudge that goes far before this blog was started. It helps explain the weird comments over the years and why the decision was pretty obvious to block the person as the comments came from some deeply-held hatered. I am not about to change any of the open policies on this blog for my loyal readers and so far, have no problem just deleting the comments. I am pretty sure the regular readers know who is really me, but if you're not sure, just wait a day or so, the fake stuff is of course deleted and my real comments will remain. If the comment sounds a bit weird or in any contradiction with what I regularly write here time and again, or if it attacks any of you commenting, its pretty easy sign that its probably Fake Tomi haha. I will never engage with trolls, I just delete them because I have read that the trolling personality is twisted in that way, that if you feed their hunger-for-attention in any way, they continue. So I will never acknowledge or respond to anything such trolls say here or elsewhere. I will outlast them but this one sad person is really something, bearing some grudge for 15 years and just pestering our regular readers. To each his/her own. It wears out his/her fingers posting stuff that will always be permanently deleted and what I will never even read far less ever respond to. But its a particular level of pathetic if someone is so desperate for my attention - my attention - that they hound us here on this blog. I mean, its far worse than the worst nightmare girlfriend who wouldn't accept that it was over haha and just desperately trying to get attention. Fifteen years and still continues. I'm gonna outlast that person, but that being said, we also have newer trolls who have come and gone on this blog, I'm still here. This person will tire in maybe 5 years, maybe 20 years. We now have to just treat him/her like the deranged person he/she is. Ignore totally. (And delete)

But thanks Winter, that is a good idea, and I have several steps I can take that we can do. But I also have a considerable principle of not giving in to terrorists. I feel even a small change in our policies here would signal to that person's deranged mind, that there was some level of 'success' or 'achievement' I prefer to have none of that... but seriously Winter, you've been here forever and I appreciate it that you've been pondering this (as no doubt have many others).

Hey its the Communities Dominate blog, so some noise is to be expected :-)

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS]

More news showing WP is in the toilet and heading for the drain:

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-phone-market-share-faces-huge-drop-in-the-us

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/06/windows-phone-market-share-in-the-u-s-drops-significantly/

The news consistently confirms: NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS ON A PHONE! ...LoL

[Steve Balmer]

Maybe its steve balmer.
Tomi made him fired

[chithanh]

The move by Apple to include ad blocking functions is quite telling. It means that they need extra incentives to persuade businesses to do apps, by draining their website ad revenue.

Similar move by European carriers recently: "Mobile operators plan to block online advertising"
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7010ae7a-f4c6-11e4-8a42-00144feab7de.html

The motivation is clear. The carriers no longer want to be a dumb pipe for data, just like Apple fears becoming a dumb pipe for HTML content.

[Maggan]

@chithanh

Apple allowing ad blockers are in my opinion more to do with their current PR offense against "data collection". They have decided to be the anti-Google when it comes to data collection, and alowing ad blockers fits more into that than into a desire to persuade business to do apps.

That's my theory, at least.

[abdul muis]

@Maggan

I think the real reason is Apple waging the war to Google.
Apple think: if Apple didn't break Google source of income, Google will keep growing and pressure Apple.