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Buy a PlayStation 3 and Sink Sony

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the there-be-sharks-in-them-there-seas dept.

sonnyweathers writes "There has never been a more perilous time for Sony than 2006. But if you think you can save the company by buying PlayStation 3 consoles, you're wrong. Analyst Evermore believes that selling 6 million PS3 consoles will make Sony a ripe target for takeover — perhaps even by Microsoft."

11 of 441 comments (clear)

  1. they are sony minions I tell you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    what's this? reverse psychology?

    "DON'T buy our console!"

    1. Re:they are sony minions I tell you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The saddest thing is that Microsoft is probably going to drop the price of the Xbox to $300 or $200 the moment the PS3 hits the stores. Consumers will have to make the choice between many $50 games on a $300 system or a couple $100 games on a $600 system. I think the choice is obvious. The Playstation line had a great run but complete corporate incompetence will probably kill it during this iteration. Pity, but that's life.

    2. Re:they are sony minions I tell you! by mikeisme77 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      There's a difference in that though: DVD was already an established standard and had clear benefits over VHS (plus it didn't require additional equipment to get those additional benefits). Blu-Ray (and HD-DVD) still have yet to become proven standards/successors to DVDs, currently lack any additional benefits (beyond picture/audio quality), AND require most consumers to purchase additional equipment to see any benefit from them.

      Of course, on the other hand, MiniDisc was actually successful in Japan... so something has to be said about Sony's mindshare there.

      --
      Read my blog posts on usability.
  2. "Save Sony?" by plover · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From the article, Sony's CEO was quoted as saying "Want a PS3? Work a little harder."

    What do I have to do if I happen to like watching the company most actively pushing DRM on us flounder and collapse? How can I personally help to hasten that demise? Work a little harder? Be a little less greedy?

    Actually, that's a strategy that could possibly save Sony -- abandon DRM loudly and publicly, and tout themselves as the Kings of Unrestricted Media. A big campaign of "We trust you to not steal our stuff, but Microsoft and Apple think you're thieves."

    Hey, if they're going down the toilet anyway, try a little innovation! Work a little smarter, not harder.

    --
    John
    1. Re:"Save Sony?" by NDPTAL85 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're one of those funny Slashdot people who thinks the masses would care about DRM even if they knew what it was in the first place, aren't you?

      Think about what you just said. "abandon DRM loudly and publicly." Go outside your home or office right now and run up to 10 people and ask them if they know what DRM means. Help them out even, let them know DRM stands for Digital RIghts Management but tell them nothing more. You'll be lucky to find one person who can tell you what DRM means. So how exactl would your suggestion help Sony again? And why is Apple so successful despite its use of DRM with iTunes?

      --
      Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
  3. Even better... by BigDork1001 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... don't buy it and just let it sit there on the store shelves collecting dust. Taking this approach also saves you $600.

    --
    "Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
  4. Strange by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Boy, that makes a lot of sense. If Sony makes "6 million PS3 units before April", and sells them all, then they recoup part of their expense. If they don't sell any, then they are somehow better off not recouping anything at all? More sensationalism.

    Dan East

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  5. Kutaragi just doesn't get it by Y-Crate · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Our ideal," Kutaragi said, "is for consumers to think to themselves, 'OK, I'll work more hours and buy it.' We want people to feel that they want it, no matter what."
    I'm not one to assume that I deserve to get a PS3, 360 or Wii, but Kutaragi's comments border on insulting.

    Yes, I know that if I want to purchase consumer goods that I need to work to earn money to be able to afford them. I have no problem with this, the problem I have is that Kutaragi's attitude is one of "The price is not our problem, the price is your problem, do something about it."

    If you own a business, and your product is rejected by the market fot being too expensive, then you either deal with the lost sales or change your pricing structure. If you cannot do the former because it would hurt your bottom line, and you cannot do the latter because your have designed a product with a very high materials cost, then it's your problem, not that of your potential customers.
  6. Re:What would Microsoft do with all that content? by bmajik · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Speaking for myself only (but, I am a MS employee), I seriously hope that _never_ happens.

    To say that I am ... dissatisfied with what we're doing in terms of DRM and content protection technologies for content we have no financial stake in.. would be an understatement. I've gotten in some pretty heated arguments with people closer to those groups internally and there are days I feel like looking for other employment options.

    Imagine how awful things would be if MS owned a bunch of "traditional" content (besides software.. which has grown up with "piracy" and the market understands how to deal with it..and the providers have grown up figuring out how to stay alive inspite of it)

    When one umbrella organization owns content and technology, the interests of one are going to suffer due to the other. Sony makes this plainly evident. I suspect that the content people at Sony are furious that the technology people haven't invented a remote "extort-money" button for the latest Sony-Style line of kitchen radios.. and the consumer electronics people are livid that they keep getting memos suggesting that they invent a TV that plays ONLY Sony Pictures movies from the content arm.

    When I talk about stuff like the broadcast flag, etc at work, I can still posture the argument that it's not clear that we make money by playing well with that thing vs ignoring it or taking a more consumer friendly approach. If suddenly "we" benefited from crap like the broadcast flag, those arguments would be DOA.

    (Just like slashdot - there is not a singular hive-mind mentality inside Microsoft, and it should be clear that not everyone is 100% thrilled with everything that gets MS's name attributed to it. I can only imagine that there are good engineers at Sony as well that are upset with what has happened to their company.. )

    --
    My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
  7. Re:What would Microsoft do with all that content? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hrmm... that's a quite risky opinion you have.

    Please come to my office at ONCE.

    Bring a chair.

    Steve.

  8. BREAKING NEWS by Silent+sound · · Score: 5, Funny
    Games: Playstation 3 launch at risk from giant turtles
    Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday September 25, @10:00PM
    from the could-things-get-any-worse dept.

    An anonymous reader writes
    On top of Sony's other problems, analysts are now predicting that the Playstation 3 launch may be at risk of attack by Gamera, a radioactive turtle from beyond the dawn of time. From the article: "If Gamera the giant firebreathing space turtle lands on their offices, they'll bit in quite a bit of trouble too, and that's about as likely to happen." I don't think there's any question at this point that Sony is doomed.
    Sony is going to have a lot of trouble withstanding an attack from Gamera, as not only does he possess great destructive power, but he is also a friend to all children.