Sony Kills off Aibo, Qrio, Qualia

Tomo-chan writes "It seems Sony's cost-cutting has made it a more pragmatic company. The new boss has weilded his mighty chopper and put an end to both Aibo and Qrio, as well as some other marginal product lines. Aibo -- we'll miss you..."

Comments

Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[dada21]

I think the proper title should be "the consumer market killed off some of Sony's fad products." Sony wouldn't kill off products that made them a profit. A profit is the only proof of a product's viability -- if people are willing to pay you to perform a service or build a product, your ability to profit proves if the product/service is worthy of your time.

I think we'll see more of these fad/trend items from other Asian manufacturers start to fall out of the production lines. The U.S. is one of the biggest consumers of these useless products, and personal debt is way too high to keep buying more stuff that depreciates 60% the minute it hits the house. With Americans buying less, Asian manufacturers have to reorganize their product lines for items that we do need.

Sony is already out of my buying schedule -- the rootkit and the overall low quality of products they've made in recent years have led me to decide to never buy their products again. I help a few cEOs and upper management types from my client base purchase home electronics and appliances -- I'll always tell them never buy Sony. I remember a few years ago how many of these 6+ figure income types were asking about Aibo and other eccentric toys, nowadays I hear nothing of the sort. Even worse, I don't even hear the wealthy elites asking about the latest flat panel TVs, high end GPS systems or the latest computer gadgets. If the wealthy are having a hard time staying on the 18 month upgrade cycle, what does that say about the economy?

Sony is probably smart to start slicing and dicing. The best thing they can do is refocus on their higher end line -- people who can afford the expense will want the best quality product available. I hate seeing a company I loved become a company I hate. They chased the common man, and their products suffered for it. They chased markets created out of force against consumer action (music, movies, etc) to give their previous customers even more reason to hate them.

Sony, if you're listening and you want to be pragmatic (meaning practical), chop it all out. Sell it all off. Return to Japan, make high end products with meticulous attention to detail and care. Love your customers again -- those willing to pay for the product quality and service. Don't chase the Best Buy guy (or the Circuit City kitty?) -- let the upper echelon come to you.

Billions in annual sales at a 2% margin makes less sense than hundreds of millions at a 20% margin. Here's a hint for all you future entrepreneurs: the only thing that will keep you profitable is to keep your customers happy and offer them a consistency in your performance -- product quality and customer service. Ignore the trends, the fads and trying to sell everything to everyone.

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[silentbozo]

I think the problem is that Sony is dropping their R&D products in favor of going for what will soon be commodity items. Not a smart thing to do, but it's the "safe" thing to do. The problem is, competition in Korea and Taiwan ate that lunch a long time ago. The more Sony retreats from the markets it currently occupies (Clies, for example), the more consumer mindshare it's giving up. At that point, they're competing pretty much just on price, and I'm afraid that all it's going to do it kill Sony, ESPECIALLY if they're still being hamstrung by directives from their Media Entertainment division.

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[dada21]

Yes, I believe you are right. I also believe that the Internet is starting to bring free market ideals into action. I don't believe mega-corporations can exist for very long without government subsidies or favoritism. Now we have instant information, reviews, and feature and price comparisons. Sony can't compete on that level.

I believe Sony's (and most megacorps') best option would be to spin off into 5-10 separate companies. There is nothing wrong with these 10 companies (and maybe 20 other companies in other industries) getting together to fund R&D groups. In the long run, the "sell everything to everyone" idea will fall apart as you find companies that can specialize on specific markets. In the "old days" you had enough trouble selling one type of product to one market region. Now you can create new megamarkets that are very niche, but are international. The need to appeal to everyone all the time is quickly falling away.

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[MMC Monster]

On the same vein, my dad's first TV was a Sony that lasted upwards of 15 years without a problem. Since then he always bought Sony TVs. Over the last decade he has come to me for advice on electronics.

I pointed him towards the iMac 21" G5. He will never willingly use Windows again.

I got him a iPod for Christmas. His CD collection will never leave the house again.

Now he's looking for a new TV to replace his Sony 65" XBR that's about a dozen years old. I think I'm going to have him get a Samsung. I don't know which brand for sure, but I'm sure as hell not going to recommend a Sony.

Brand loyalty works both ways. We've been loyal to Sony. I personally feel betrayed. He can't believe that what I've told him about the root kits is even true. (Saying that it's obviously illegal)

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[dada21]

Exactly. You paid a premium for a high quality product with higher quality service. The free market in action :)

Samsung is the ONLY television company I will buy from right now (other than large screen projectors). The last 3 TVs I helped people buy were from Samsung. My cell phone is from Samsung. These people answer their e-mails and phone calls, and they've fixed any problem I've had in recent years.

Good choices, good post.

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[buraianto]

It's not just about profit, though that in itself is a complex thing. Aibo may not be profitable by itself, but it can very well improve the profits on other products. And, of course, if you are using it as R&D that may not profit you directly, but can certainly allow you to create products that are profitable.

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[__aajwxe560]

I agree with you that focusing on putting out a high end product "with meticulous attention to detail and care" will certainly be of high benefit to them, and I couldn't agree more that I would love to be able to trust knowing that when I buy a Sony product, I am getting that legendary Sony quality that seems to have gone noticably missing over the past several years.
The way the market forces work, I think this happens to a lot of companies. Lets continue with Sony - they create a great, well made, well thought out product. People come to find that these products from Sony are highly reliable, and last quite a long time. They also find they pay more money for the product. This is a reasonable tradeoff for quality for many people who can afford to make such a decision. Eventually, everyone owns said product, and so the consumer does not need to buy another one. Being as the company is highly successful and wants to continue to grow and prosper, they see the market starting to slow since everyone now owns there product. How can they possibly grow further? Start to produce lower end, more affordable lines of product and market them to the next segment down (Best Buy or Circuit City). More products sold which helps the bottom line and continues to demonstrate growth. Soon they find that you can add even more customers if you come out with a "Walmart line". The typical market segment that shops at Walmart are excited at the prospect of owning a quality Sony product for such a cheap competitive price compared to say, Daewoo or whatever offbrand they have.
I guess what I'm saying is companies often loose focus of what made them great in an effort to continue to grow and prosper. I can make the same argument for the way I am seeing Toyota start to go with some vehicles (obviously people would argue against me on this), and I'm sure there are numerous other examples.
Is the reasonable answer that a company should just focus on creating a quality, competitive product that is well thought out and stay with this philisophy? Certainly, but enormous forces are going against most companies to continue to grow the market and, in particular, raise the stock value. A publicly traded company must grow to attract investors. Stay private, and the company only needs to follow the philosphies of its owners.

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[DulcetTone]

My Jack Russell Terrier never turned a profit, but we didn't kill him for lack of performance.

tone

Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure?

[Bucc5062]

"Here's a hint for all you future entrepreneurs: the only thing that will keep you profitable is to keep your customers happy and offer them a consistency in your performance -- product quality and customer service. Ignore the trends, the fads and trying to sell everything to everyone."

I would suggest that the best thing to keep you profitable is to keep your employees happy and offer them a positive, stimulating workplace in which to grow. There have been many stories over the years that I've heard which showed when a company focused on keeping the employee happy and motived, this translated into better customer satifaction and profit. Employees that come to work with a desire to do good, to contribute are people that come through the door with ideas on how to make the company better, with a desire to help the customer because they want that customer to like (believe) in their company.

Look at a company like Southwest airlines; right in their mission statement (http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/mission.html) page they publicly state the way they will treat their employees. The first quarter after 9/11 they where the only major carrier that continued to earn a profit. Some of that success must come from the three pronged framework of employee - customer - employer. By putting the customer first, it is a small step to putting the shareholder first and that leads to management looking at employees as numbers on a profit loss statement instead of valuable resources to help grow the company. Of course it is important to keep the customer happy, but it is short sighted to think it stops there.

Overall, I have the same feelings about Sony today. I avoid purchasing any of their products, but now that is in the forefront of my mind when I do want to buy something, I see how many product lines they are into. I purchased a 42" Samsung widescreen recently and now am glad that it was a good choice.

I hope you're happy!

[Thud457]

Sony's got to cut back to the bone to survive because you piratical sons-of-bitches aren't buying enough Ricky Martin CDs!!

Here's Hoping!

[drewzhrodague]

Gee, let's hope that this makes Sony produce more quality products, with more functionality. Why are they ignoring their customers?

Seems wrong.......

[ShyGuy91284]

That dog (so to speak) was practically an unofficial mascot to Sony and Japan to foreigners....... I know I thought of Japan/Sony when I saw one. I'm surprised they got rid of something that had become part of their identity. Maybe they will replace it with a low-cost model many can afford?

I misread it as "Sony Kills off Alito, Scalia".

[njchick]

Well, with Sony pushing DRM so hard, we'll soon see robotic judges, aka "digital rights managers" :-)

Sadly

[gowen]

... Sony have also announced they will be phasing out Kibo, an experimental artificial intelligence program that has been fooling the sophomoric inhabitants of alt.religion.kibology for over 20 years.

Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Aibo -- we'll miss you...

No, we won't.

Whatup?

[Stan Vassilev]

Well I'd say this was the wrong decision. Aibo and Qrio are in everyone's mouth. Everyone wants one, but they are just too darn expensive.

If they could keep developing it, several generations later they could rule the market for price efficient home robots. Still yet they were a great marketing tool.

I wonder what's their strategy, especially that RIGHT NOW, they need all the positive press they could get. Killing the world's favorite pet robots is a bad press coming after bad press.

From Sony's Qrio site:

[macklin01]

From Sony's Qrio site:

Qrio embodies Sony's dreams and most advanced technologies in recognition, motion control, communications, IT and AI. [...] resulting technologies will be applied to a wide range of products and services, beyond robots, to enhance the fun and joy of life.

Well, so much for Sony killing off its own dreams. More seriously, how can Sony hope to offer innovative products in the future, if it fails to pursue cutting-edge research now. Certainly, developing high-precision manufacturing techniques, etc. can only help in the future when such technologies will be required. -- Paul

Where's Aibo, Uncle Howard?

[notNeilCasey]

Sweetie, the shareholders and I took that product line off to a beautiful farm where it will be happy forever running through fields of Newtons on the banks of Crystal Pepsi River. Aibo is in a better place now.

Let's go get some ice cream.

Put down the pipe...

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Mexican plants are perfictly able to produce high quality products; Sony is not paying them to do so. The problem has nothing at all to do with Mexican labor vs. some other location.

Re:Put down the pipe...

[flyingsquid]

Mexican plants are perfictly able to produce high quality products

I dunno about that. Last time I had anything produced from a Mexican plant, it was a bottle of Señor Borracho's Old Style Blue Agave Tequila, and next thing you know, I wake up in a Tijuana jail wearing nothing but a Mexican stripper's panties on my head. I'm never touching that shit again, man.

Adios, amigos..

[Ancil]

Sony Kills off Aibo, Qrio, Qualia.

I'm sorry, but who are these people, exactly? Bolivian immigrants working as janitors at Sony HQ?

Killing them seems awfully harsh -- I would think a wealthy company like Sony could just get them deported, or maybe beat up?

Vaya con dios, my Bolivian friends! There are no wastepaper baskets to empty in Heaven!! *sniff*

200? big spender..

[way2trivial]

are you aware of the price of aibo? and you'd shell out a whole 200 for qrio?

gads.

Re:US biggest buyer?

[flyingsquid]

In Japan, if you want to display your financial superiority, you buy cool electronic toys - ultra-light laptops... In the US, you buy a big car

In short, in the U.S. if you have a small penis you buy big stuff. But in Japan, if you have a small penis you buy really small stuff. I guess it is a little less obvious that you're compensating when you do it that way.

Has anyone told Beck about this?

[surelyserious]

And what about his dancers? Must they be killed also? Can't something be done?

http://www.fungod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php? album=11&pos=19

THIS WILL NOT STAND! THIS AGGRESSION WILL NOT STAND, MAN!

"Qrio Music Video Dancers, form of . . . VOLTRON! "