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Sony eyes India for software, content-driven sales

Struggling electronics and entertainment group Sony plans to tap India's skills to develop more software for products and use its popular content to expand its Indian market share, its chief executive said.

Sony Corp., which said last month it would cut about 7 percent of its global work force, has a software center in Bangalore that develops technologies for home networks, digital media platforms and Internet-enabled consumer electronic devices.

"We're in a ghastly phase of reconstruction ... we are closing plants and laying off people," Stringer told reporters at a news conference in Mumbai. "We have to find a way to get our arms around software development, but give us some time to think about what we want to do in India."

Sony lags behind its nimbler Korean rivals, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, and Chinese new entrant Haier, which are all investing heavily in manufacturing and research and development facilities in India.

Sony Ericsson, the world's fifth-largest mobile phone maker jointly owned with Sweden's Ericsson, said earlier this year it was looking at setting up a facility to make phones in India -- the world's fastest-growing major mobile market.

Sony also operates India's number two cable network, Sony Entertainment Television, which broadcasts three channels of Hindi-language entertainment, besides cricket.

"Our content here has been so successful, perhaps more than anywhere else in the world outside the United States," Stringer said. "It is my hope our content here will also drive sales of our hardware."

"But we don't like being number two and chasing Murdoch," Stringer said, referring to Star, the leading network in India which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Film studio and distributor Sony Pictures on Thursday signed a co-production deal with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his film 'Saawariya' (Beloved), Sony's first Indian film deal.

India's "Bollywood" is the most prolific popular film industry in the world, making nearly 1,000 films a year.

India's entertainment industry revenue is expected to more than double to 295 billion rupees by 2009, according to estimates by PriceWaterHouseCoopers.

" India is important, and we see that in the abundance of chief executives visiting," he said. "I am not just passing through."

(http://today.reuters.com)

 

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