In 2020 CES, Sony announced VISION-S concept car to showcase the best of Sony from the sensor to entertainment. 2 years later also in CES, Sony doubles down by announcing a new SUV prototype: VISION-S 02 to envision the next phase of mobility. Furthermore, by forming a new Sony Mobility operating company, Sony may establish its beachhead for the new mobility business. But how?
A better technology provider
No doubt, Sony has many bleeding-edge technologies to redefine smarter cars. For example, Sony is already a strong component vendor for cars, such as image/ToF sensors, LiDAR, sound system, etc. Expanding from them is an obvious strategy. The ambition is to take a bigger role for the next generation of infotainment & self-driving systems. Sony Mobility will be the new operating company. Which has a better chance to put all pieces together more agilely than the Sony Corporation because it’s too big to move faster.
Nevertheless, there are new challenges for Sony Mobility to figure out. For example, the next phase will be much more software-defined.
- For infotainment, Sony may leverage its talents & experience in Sony mobile. Even hindsight is 20/20, only it could be less painful for such bet comes much earlier than a few waives of Sony mobile lay-off.
- For self-driving, Sony needs more leverage as already “10 years late” than Tesla. The most viable strategy is likely partnership. An easy fit may be for Sony Mobile to partner with NVIDIA as a system integrator of the NVIDIA DRIVE HYPERION platform. Especially for self-driving in Japan, which is extremely local & real-time dependent.
A new MaaS provider?
Just like others, Sony has a big ambition to build Mobility as a Service (MaaS). After all, who does not like a subscription business generating recurring revenues for 10 years? The question is what a sustainable business model Sony Mobile can do better than others.
However, Sony Mobile may be too late on the established smarter car businesses. For example, Sony Mobile is too late to complete with:
- Tesla as an EV OEM. Also as big car OEMs wake up to chase Tesla including Toyota, Sony Mobile should focus on something better to complete.
- Uber as a taxi service provider. With Uber & Lyft shelved their Robotaxi efforts, when is the next tipping point for commercialization is difficult to guess.
- Hertz as an EV rental. In 2022, Hertz gets a head start by building an EV fleet with 100K Tesla Model 3.
So, what kind of business model innovation should Sony Mobile bet on? That may be the billion dollars question.
So how
How could Sony Mobile redefine mobility differently for better safety, adaptability & entertainment as Sony’s CEO Kenichiro Yoshida visions? While no one knows the answer for sure. Even Apple is still figuring it out since 2014 by Titan, aka Apple car project. I’m pretty sure Sony Mobile won’t thrive by reinventing “the wheels”. A rule of thumb to compete batter is not to play the winner’s game. Instead, Sony starts 2022 by properly organizing its strengths. Next, Sony Mobile has to build new capabilities to redefine business boundaries. Then, Sony Mobile may be redefining mobility in a way that matters.
Full Disclosure
The opinions stated here are my own, not those of my company. They are mostly extrapolations from public information. I don’t have insider knowledge of those companies, nor a whatever expert.
