Sony’s $60M B2B Push

Technology conglomerate Sony is reportedly spending about $60 million on a new marketing campaign to raise awareness of its Xperia smart device portfolio, and a major portion of that marketing push will be to business customers, reports said.

In efforts to strengthen its business-to-business services, Sony is said to be introducing a new marketing plan aimed at strengthening ties with resellers of its devices. The firm has established a new B2B marketing unit that will allow resellers to access the company’s “Asset Pack,” which includes marketing tools and information related to Sony devices.

On top of introducing new ways to work with other businesses selling its devices, Sony is also working on marketing its Xperia devices directly to business customers. According to reports at Mobile News, Sony’s new multimillion-dollar marketing efforts will include plans to “push business-specific uses for the phone.”

In the U.K., Sony remains in third place in terms of market penetration; the most recent figures show the company holding 9 percent of the market, down from 9.8 percent a year prior. But a focus on B2B offers the potential to regain more of that market share.

The rise of Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, means smartphone manufacturers like Sony are working on selling their smartphones to businesses for their employees, as well as developing new platforms that function on their devices targeted directly at businesses.

But Sony has some tough competition. Samsung recently revealed plans for a biometric iris recognition security feature on its devices used by businesses. The high-tech B2B tool is Samsung’s own swipe at Apple, which has also been working to introduce new enterprise-focused applications, developed in conjunction with IBM, to boost the presence of iPhones and iPads in the workplace.