Xperia Z smart phone to be available for Rs.45000

Sony has revealed the price of its Xperia Z finally and it will cost £529 or Rs.45,000.00 as disclosed by the makers website in UK.  The Xperia Z was expected to be in sub 40000.00 category, this price makes it a little dicey for future customers as Apple's iPhone 5 is available in India for RS.45000.00.

Sony today posted the price on the website of its UK arm's website, saying it is taking pre-orders for  Xperia Z for £529, however the date of delivery is given as "coming soon".  

I have already posted a blog on Xperia Z here, however, the specs as detailed by the website are as follows  :

Camera and video

13 megapixel Exmor RS camera with Auto focus and Burst Mode

16x digital zoom

HDR for both picture/film

Face detection

Flash/Pulsed LED and Photo light

Front-facing camera (2 MP 1080p Exmor R)

Geotagging

HD video recording (1080p)

Image stabiliser

Picture Effect

Quick Launch

Red-eye reduction

Scene recognition

Self-timer

Send to web

Smile detection

Sony Exmor RS for mobile image sensor

Superior Auto

Sweep Panorama

Touch focus

Display and design

5", 1920x1080 pixels, 16,777,216 colour TFT

Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2

Scratch-resistant, shatter proof sheet on mineral glass

Capacitive touchscreen with on-screen QWERTY keyboard

Screenshot capturing

Pre-loaded applications

Google Chrome*

Google Play*

Google search*

Google Voice Search*

Google Maps for Mobile with Street view and Latitude*

Web browser (WebKit)

Google Talk application*

Memory

RAM: 2GB

Flash memory: Up to 16 GB

Expansion slot: microSD card, up to 32 GB

Networks

UMTS HSPA+ 850 (Band V), 900 (Band VIII), 2100 (Band I) MHz *

GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20)*

Entertainment
3D Surround Sound (VPT)
Album art
Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)
Clear Audio+
Dynamic normalizer
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow service*
TrackID music recognition*
“WALKMAN” application
xLoud™ Experience
3D games
Motions gaming
Video streaming
Facebook application*
Twitter*
YouTube*
Connectivity and communication
3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA)
aGPS
Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
DLNA Certified
GLONASS*
HDMI via MHL support
Media Go
Media Transfer Protocol support
Micro USB support
Native USB tethering
NFC
PC Companion
Screen mirroring
Synchronisation via Exchange ActiveSync, Facebook, Google and SyncML
USB charging

USB High speed 2.0 support
Xperia Link
Wi-Fi and WiFi Hotspot functionality
Wi-Fi Miracast

Those marked * may not be available in all models, but the Indian Model is sure to have all the features.  

The price seems to steep for Xperia Z, considering the phone's USP is its of  IP IPX5/7 (Water-resistant) & IP5X (Dust-proof) certification and  13 megapixel Exmor RS camera with Auto focus and flash 2 MP, Exmor R, front facing camera (1080p) with Bravia Engine thrown in.  

The Apples iPhone 5 is available in India for Rs.45000.00 and has a huge 'WOW' factor going for it with many considering it to be a status symbol, so why would a person buy Xperia Z.  

The dust proof and water resist qualities may fail to impress users buying the phone for 'WOW' factor and its 13 MP camera will be of use only to picture enthusiasts.    As of today NFC is not a such a hot proposition in India, maybe in future it may overtake bluetooth as exchange router.  Till that time only niche buyers can afford such a smart phone and Sony Bravia TV to enjoy the full results of its Bravia Engine via NFC.

Apple has already started focusing on India due to its now stagnant US sales and no new launch announced(though Apple is expected to release iPad 128GB).    The company along with its retailer Reddington has started posting full page ads in all leading dailies in Mumbai.

And with Samsung's superlative performance with its Note II and S III and  Samsung Note III coming up in next quarter, I don't see any great success for Xperia Z due to the high price factor.  Lets see what price Sony comes up with when it launches the Xperia Z in March, 2013 in India.

Please post your comments and suggestions on this post.

Vijay Prabhu