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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?"
I love my Apple-centric media room, don't get me wrong, but Apple makes two things: computers and MP3 players.
Okay, and now a crappy $300 stereo for the den.
Sony is a player in almost every personal electronics market there is, with the possible exception of "massage wand" marital aids. They can afford to lag behind in one or two market segments for a few years and bounce back.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
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 is a player in almost every personal electronics market there is, with the possible exception of "massage wand" marital aids. They can afford to lag behind in one or two market segments for a few years and bounce back.
You can afford to behave as stupidly as Sony has for only so long in today's marketplace. If they don't split up their conglomerate into separate entities that can actually innovate and compete without interfering with each other, the market will do it for them.
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.
1) "The 'killer app' of tomorrow won't be software or hardware devices,
but the social practices they make possible." - Howard Rheingold
The Sony 'iPod killers' are just using new technology to accomplish the same social purpose. The only difference between the Sony products and the Apple ones is that the Sony ones are less sexy. If Sony wants to succeed, they need to make a product that A) serves a new social purpose and B) is more sexy. Let's face it: the iPod is already sexy. But the iPod is sexy as in sexy to look at. That was good enough five years ago, but not today. I want REAL sexy. Not just sexy as in sexy to look at sexy, but sexy as in dripping down your face sexy.
2) "The real 'iPod killer' won't be an mp3 player."
The world doesn't need a new mp3 player. The iPod is already good enough. The real iPod killer won't be an mp3 player. It won't even play mp3s. It will do something entirely different. The problem is the people who run these companies like Sony are a little slow and don't get this, so we get these people investing 100 million dollars to create shit products that any five year old knows won't sell when they could be creating the next patent pending paradigm shifting curve jumping technology for 1/20th of that much.
Sony's biggest problem is not Apple.
Sony's biggest problem is the contempt it has shown it's customers.
I'll buy Apple products.
/two words: root kit.
/Two more: never forget.
Hardly surprising, then, that it has that effect on distributed development. Apple has the advantage of keeping its developers together, which is fine as long as you have a narrow product base.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Did you know that with all the various products that Sony sells that the Playstation division is basically carrying the entire company? And if the PS3 doesn't do well vs the XBox 360 and Nintendo Revolution the company itself may go bankrupt?
Sony keeps trying to force unattractive standards on the market. From the Memory Stick, to Betamax to Blu-Ray it just never fucknig seems to learn its lesson about using open standards. That pisses people off and its why their consumer electronics division is getting its butt kicked by Apple and Samsung.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
But as for now, when people think of Sony, they think of a company that produces mediocre products and treats them like criminals. And that's not going to help the company move its merchandise.
Albuquerque PC
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.
"The White House is not an intelligence-gathering agency," -- Scott McClellan, Whitehouse spokesman.
i'd say microsoft is more of a threat than apple. let's not forget that sony has an indomitable foothold in the living room already - the PS2. The living room is theirs to lose.
When I first learned how to code - I had a high school teacher named Mr. Rice - and he always admonished me to keep it simple. He'd write KISS on the board - and then say no offense - to which I'd reply, - none taken. Sony can't seem to keep it simple.
All of which is to say - all Sony has to do is SHOW UP ON TIME - and the living room is theirs. But no - they keep trying to kill every DAVID out there. If the PS3 were coming out RIGHT NOW - the console wars would be a rout - Sony would win. Even with no killer launch titles - Sony would be a hands down winner because of the installed user base and backwards compatibility. They can always add their online service later - in say the PS3.1 or whatever. Blu-Ray spec issues? Add it in PS3.2. They just need to be in the marketplace with a new product.
To win in the living room - you must deliver gaming. Because apple does not - they're not yet a living room solution. Microsoft delivers gaming in a very nice package - but they don't know how to design for the living room - meaning they design boxes that age poorly and soon seem and look anachronistic (the xbox one is so damn ugly). But the X-Box gaming experience is superior - and x-box live is a gaming solution without competition. They just can't get games out there fast enough.
The first one stop gaming/DVR/audio/movie device with already recognizable brand awareness wins the living room hands down.
un burrito me trampeó.
Why not anymore?
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.
- The Sony Cybershot is a pretty good camera.
- The Sony Receivers are feature-rich, support lots of inputs, and sound good.
- The Sony DVD player is a pretty good unit for $100 which plays most formats.
- The Sony car stereos work well, are reasonably powerful, and sound nice.
- The Sony laptops are slick little units which do a pretty good job of staving off "iBook envy" among Windows bigots.
- The Sony ear buds are actually a small step up from the iPod's offerings for only ten bucks.
- The Sony phase-cancelling headphones are a much better choice than the Bose ones you see pushed in most stores.
- The Sony cabinet speakers... are total crap, sure, but they're not really in the high-end speaker market.
The grandparent post is right. They've got a reputation for being "pretty good" in almost every market where they have a presense, and an easy brand to look for if you're a busy yuppy with no desire to study reviews and compare prices all day.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
*sigh* yet another person on slashdot who needs a joke carefully spelled out for them...
a st_and_Central_Asia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition#Middle_E
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
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.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...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Why is competition in the marketplace always characterized as a "war?"
Why are these "wars" always lost before anyone even knows about them?
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
"Did you know that with all the various products that Sony sells that the Playstation division is basically carrying the entire company?" ..and you can of course point to a source for this "fact".
f x2302512.html
This piece seems to suggest you're lying: http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/10/27/a
Operating profit for Sony march-september 2005: 50.98 billion yen
Operating profit for Sony gaming division: 2.3 billion yen
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you like. - Mark Twain