Barcelona: Sony has revamped its entertainment application Lounge to lure customers and to engage more with consumers. The app gives exclusive contents like music, movies, games, sports, offers and competitions.
Sony launched the Blue Lounge app for all Android users in September 2012.
“We are revamping the experiences. We are going to have two separate packages — Silver and Gold. Silver Lounge will be for the entire Sony Xperia phones and Gold will be for Xperia Z series. It will be free of cost,” said Sharath Muddaiah, senior global product marketing programme manager at Sony Mobile Communications.
The Gold Lounge will contain high-res audio, games, movies, cloud storage, stickers, themes and software upgrades, which are delivered through a personalised user interface.
High-res audio are lossless audio and contains three to seven times as information as conventional CDs.
“It is not just about the content, it is more also about the tips and tricks in unique-based user devices. Not all users know exactly about what are the latest and greatest elements on their devices. Consumers appreciate innovation most when it can bring real value to their lives,” Muddaiah said.
The just-unveiled Xperia M4 Aqua smartphone will be bundled with the Silver version of Xperia Lounge, while Xperia Z4 Tablet buyers will get the Gold edition. It also includes three movie credits in HD quality.
He further said that it does not stop there and will be adding more contents day by day. “We are going to engage more with the consumers through the app. It will be available across the globe but the contents will be regional specific. It will be rolled out from April 1.”
Sony has more than 15 million registered accounts for the Lounge.
With certain operators, and in certain markets, he said that Sony will be doing exclusive partner deals.
The Japanese electronics maker sold its Vaio personal computer business and spun off its money-losing TV operations in 2014.
When asked why Sony smartphone sales are not picking up despite value-added features, Muddaiah said that Sony is still a new player in the market but our offerings are much better than others in the marketplace.
The struggling giant is also streamlining its product portfolio this year from nine models last year and put more focus on mid-tier and high-end phones, and extends its product life cycle for flagship smartphones.
The strategy came after Sony forecast a 230 billion yen net loss for its fiscal year to March 2015 following heavy smartphone losses.
Sony could sell only more than 39 million units in 2014 with a market share of 3.9 per cent compared with its initial projection of 50 million smartphone sales made in April last year.
