Sony Already Lost Media War to Apple?

Declan McCullagh writes "Sony's Walkman was the king of media players. Now Apple's iPod is, and Sony Connect was a flop. But Sony's problems may soon be even bigger: the company is having a remarkably difficult time coordinating software development across different divisions and continents, and some managers are worried that things may be getting worse. Will Apple's recent forays into the living room create even more of a problem for Sony?"

Comments

And on the MMORPG Front...

[jjleard]

Sony's EQ2 is taking a beating as well. Not to mention the original EQ that they simply let (are letting) die. I think the guy's at Penny Arcade hit the nail on the head with a recent cartoon: (paraphrase) they seem to be generating content by robots completely devoid of a human touch.

Sony's experienced here

[SheeEttin]

Sony's been making audio equipment for a long time, and it's really good quality. If Apple can compete with Sony's quality and Sony can't get cooordinated enough, they may have competition.

But what exactly is Apple going to do?
What would they do for stereo equipment? iPod docks? It's been done.

Um...no...

[Expert Determination]

The only difference between the Sony products and the Apple ones is that the Sony ones are less sexy

Did you ever look at Sony's apology for an mp3^H^H^Hatrac player? The iPod succeeded because it, and iTunes, were awesomely easy to use. People didn't have to stop for a moment to figure out how to use them. They just worked, straight out of the box. (So well that countless applications have now copied many of iTunes GUI elements.)

Apple didn't succeed because new social practices become possible. This is obvious - mp3 players were available before the iPod came along. (And anyway, half the social practices associated with iPods are mythical - like random strangers jacking into each other's iPods.)

When are people going to stop making up ever more fanciful notions about why the iPod is so popular and just look at the device and software itself? Unless you're a geek who likes to waste their day messing about with clunky hard to use software and devices it's pretty obvious why the iPod is a superior product to its competition.

Re:Um...no...

[2nd Post!]

Actually, there is at least one social practice the iPod made possible:

Carrying all your music with you; a soundtrack to your life.

Prior to the iPod you had three choices:
1) Unit based players, like a CD player or a tape cassette with limited music selection
2) Network based players, like a AM/FM radio with limited music selection
3) MP3 players, like the Nomad or Rio with crude design and usability

The iPod, in one package, provide three things the other three existing devices did not have:
1) Wide music selection (your entire music collection)
2) Easy music selection (not only your entire collection, but being to easily browse through it)
3) Portable music selection (smaller than everything out there with a comparable storage density; the Rio was smaller, but only could store 128mb!)

What Sony should have done.

[soupdevil]

Five years ago, Sony's music labels should have started releasing all albums as mp3 on Memory Sticks. They should have released a Walkman with a Memory Stick Slot. Sony would have owned the music hardware scene, and limited-edition Memory Sticks with unique content would have established the Memory stick as the standard flash format.

But now Sony's hardware is languishing, and their Sony label artists are all sporting iPods. As the only label/hardware manufacturer, they had an undeniable advantage, and they blew it. Oh well.

Not sure about that... Samsung?

[SuperKendall]

Sony isn't the best at anything, and is overpriced at everything, but if you don't feel like doing any market research, buy a Sony and you will do okay.

Honestly I am not sure your statement is as true at a general level for Sony any longer as it is for Samsung in the minds of most consumers, and I have heard less technically ept people express the same sentiments.

When I am not sure about a purchase today and have no time to look up product details, I am a heck of a lot more likely to go with Samsung because I can be sure of a general level of quality. I would say I have had some Sony duds over the last few years and do not consider the brand quite as reliable as you note.

Sure my 20 year old Sony CD player is great and still works. But I would not be likley to buy a CD player from them today.

Go into a Best Buy and look to see which electronics have the least number of boxes left on the lower shelf. Very illuminating...