A bit of unexpected news.

 Sony Mobile Taiwan opened pre-orders for the Xperia XZ yesterday and managed to sell out within 45 minutes. Sony was offering a special pre-order promotion where it included a number of freeibies including a DK60 USB Type-C Charging Dock, a 16GB USB Type-C OTG connector, a flip style leather case and a protective back cover. It is safe to say that this was enough of an incentive to see those pre-orders rolling in. 

While this sounds great, it’s worth noting that it’s easy to ‘sell out’ if you only have a 100 items for pre-order. Not to say this is the case but this shouldn’t be taken as a sign that Sony Mobile is somehow experiencing some form of resurgence in Taiwan and it’s likely that we’ll see another year-over-year decline in sales in 2016 as well. Also worth noting is the sheer number of freebies thrown in. I have to assume that for Sony, it was more about getting some buzz around the Xperia XZ and less about squeezing a profit from that initial run.

I’m personally not a fan of selling at a loss or near loss for marketshare sake but seeing how inventory was likely limited, this was probably a good move by Sony. Luckily for those who missed out on the deal, Sony still has some other offers on the way.

 Sony will be including some extras for those that buy the phone on release in early October. This includes an additional year’s warranty (two years in total) and a Sony SBH70 Stereo Bluetooth Headset. The Xperia XZ will be sold at a recommended price point of NT$ 22,900 (£563, €655, $730) and launch early next month. The Xperia X Compact will launch this weekend in Taiwan for NT$ 14,900 (£366, €426, $475). 

Discuss:

Do freebies entice you to buy a phone or it’s all about what the phone is and extras matter little to you?

[Via XperiaBlog]