During the course of an interview at the 2013 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, Calum MacDougall - chief of Xperia marketing at Sony Mobile - revealed that the Monday launch of Sony's high-end Xperia Z smartphone in a number of leading European markets has triggered a good sales start for the handset.

After its launch in Japan in January, the Sony Xperia Z smartphone has now hit the store shelves in as many as 60 countries. The handset, which costs 649 euros, is part of Sony's efforts in the direction of increasing its market presence in mobile devices.

Disclosing that the pre-orders for the Xperia Z handset have been "really good," McDougall said that the first stocks, which Sony made available at its store in the German capital Berlin, had reportedly sold out in about two hours.

About the Xperia Z sales scenario in France, MacDougall said that the company had sold more Xperia Z handsets in one day in its online store than it sold in three months in mobile devices, which currently form part of the company's attempts to overcome problems in its TV division.

Noting that the Xperia Z handset "sold over 150,000 units in its first week in Japan, taking a 24 percent market share straight away," McDougall said: "It may be a bit too early to say but the first signs a very positive."