Sales of Sony Mobile Communications' new high-end flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z, have been successful, which could help the vendor ramp up sales of its entry-level to mid-range Android smartphones as well as to speed up its deployment in other mobile platforms, according to sources in the handset supply chain.

Volumes of the 5-inch Full HD Xperia allocated for sale in Japan, France, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan were all fully booked on the first day when distributors began to take pre-sale orders in the markets, the sources revealed.

The timing for the release of the Xperia Z was a strong sales boost as the smartphone was launched prior to HTC's new HTC One, LG Electronics' Optimus G Pro and Samsung Electronics' planned Galaxy S IV, the sources indicated.

Sony Mobile aims to ship 50 million smartphones in fiscal 2013 compared to 34 million units shipped in the previous fiscal year, according to a company internal estimate.

Meanwhile, Sony Mobile has teamed up with Mozilla and plans to launch a series of Firefox-based entry-level smartphones targeting markets in Latin America and Africa in 2014, the sources revealed.