Sony’s (
SNE) Xperia Z was probably the biggest surprise hit of February. It sold out substantial early shipments from Japan to France and is currently dominating the U.K. smartphone market outside the Apple (
AAPL) –
Samsung (
005930) axis. This has been a very painful experience for
HTC (
2498). The launch of the new flagship HTC One was recently delayed until the end of March and it looks like April shipment volumes are going to be very thin, most likely due to camera module sourcing problems. Wasting no time,
Sony is now rolling out its cheaper Xperia models at lower than expected price points. The Xperia SP will launch in some European countries below 400 euros and the Xperia L will debut below 300 euros in Netherlands and Italy.
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