Are reports of Sony Mobile exiting Middle East exaggerated?

 The very reputable Evan Blass tweeted last week that Sony Mobile was looking to shut down its operations and offices Middle East, Africa and Turkey by October of this year.

TechRadar contacted Sony Mobile Middle East and received the following response from Gita Ghaemmaghami, Regional Marketing Communications Manager for Sony Mobile Customer Unit Middle East & Africa:

“As part of our ongoing measures to drive profitable growth, we are carefully monitoring the market situation and reviewing our business feasibility in Middle East, Africa and Turkey.”

 Every company evaluates where it is making money and where it’s not. Sony Mobile does this as well on a continuous basis - possibly once every quarter. With sales of Sony Mobile falling in the region, this discussion would have likely taken place.

There’s no confirmation that Sony will exit these areas, but with it saying it’s considering its future in these locations there could well be some truth behind the Blass tweet.

 Only time will tell

While we don’t know the outcome of any potential discussion that may have already taken place, there’s a good chance that if Sony does decide to exit these markets, it won’t happen overnight. 

Even though the region in its entirety might not be profitable, there are countries within it that have a high potential such as UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Sony Mobile will surely look at such markets and continue focusing on them. 

Countries that Sony doesn’t see a quick turnaround in might see downsizing instead of a complete shut down.

In short, we don’t see Sony Mobile shutting down completely from the Middle East anytime soon - or at least not as early as October.

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