Sony Corp. announced on Thursday its new head of mobile divisions, Senior Vice President Hiroki Totoki, amidst the tech giant's struggles in the smartphone industry.
Totoki once helmed Sony Bank, part of the company's arm as well as Sony's Internet Service Provider business, So-net.
Totoki will take the role of current head of Sony Mobile Communiations, Kunimasa Suzuki coming next month on Nov.16.
Suzuki will instead become Executive Vice President of Sony Entertainment which heads the company's movie, music and publication divisions.
"In light of the global mobile market that is rapidly becoming competitive and difficult, we need to make our business profitable," a spokeswoman at Sony said.
"Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai judged Mr. Totoki, who has a proven track of record in turning the business profitable, is the most suited for the job," she continued.
When Totoki takes over in Nov. 16, he got his hands full as he is faced with reviving the Xperia handsets and competition such as Apple.
Despite the unprofitable smartphone ventures, Sony reported a positive net profit in the last quarter because of its videogame segments.
Totoki has been dubbed as the man behind Sony's structural reforms whose goal is to bring back the company to its profitable state in the next fiscal year which begins in April.
Last month in September, the electronics giant slimmed down its earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending in March to write down the book value of the mobile division which proved to be a good decision and prooft that Totoki and Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida were able to handle the company well.
Sony's July-September quarterly earnings are due to be released on Friday. The company is predicted to report a big net loss because of the announced ¥180 billion ($1.65 billion) mobile division write-down.
