Sony Corp. CEO Kazuo Hirai is trying to win back customers from Apple Inc. with new Xperia smartphones. Adding two former executives of the iPhone maker to Sony's board next month may help.
Eiko Harada, who spent seven years as head of Apple in Japan, and Tim Schaaff, who worked for the iPad maker until 2005, have been nominated to become directors at Sony's annual shareholder meeting June 20.
Hirai cut jobs and sold assets to help the Tokyo-based company post its first annual profit in five years, as consumers once drawn to its Walkmans and Bravia televisions now flock to products from Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. Winning customers with Xperia handsets is key to his plan to revive Sony's unprofitable electronics operations by bringing what Hirai called "inspiration" to its hardware.