Sony Projects Record Losses of $6.4 Billion

redletterdave writes "Not 24 hours after Sony announced it would slash about 10,000 jobs by the end of the year, the Japanese electronics maker announced on Tuesday that it has again doubled its annual net loss to a record $6.4 billion. The new annual estimate is Sony's fourth revision of its original forecast. The company had already more than doubled its loss forecast for fiscal 2011 on April 5 to $2.9 billion, blaming floods in Thailand, poor foreign exchange rates, and a failed partnership with Samsung... Kazuo Hirai, the company's new president and CEO hired 10 days ago, will take 'painful steps' to revive Sony, and will unveil a 'revival strategy' at a Thursday press briefing."

Comments

Re:It's called 'VAIO'

[CimmerianX]

I wouldn't wish a VAIO upon my worst enemy.

I spent more time de-crapifying VAIOs than actually prepping them for the end-user.

Re:Sony's war on their customers

[slaker]

I stopped buying Sony products when I called for an RMA on a Sony tape drive and was told that they don't support computer products unless they're specifically connected to computers running desktop versions of Windows. In response, I asked if that included displays. The phone monkey hung up on me.

Funny in retrospect but the level of unfriendliness suggested by that interaction is such that I've been looking forward to Sony's demise for a long, long time.

Re:Sony's war on their customers

[jedidiah]

I was never in an active "boycott Sony" mode. Although I am not sure that it mattered. That's the problem really. Sony is suffering from a great deal of indifference in general I think rather than just the rage of a few well informed nerds.

What's Sony got to offer us that would make us want to break a boycott even if we decided we were boycotting them? I think a lack of answer to that question is their real problem.

Sony? Who cares?

Re:Sony's war on their customers

[PetiePooo]

Remember Sony's heyday? When they came out the the coolest Walkman players and headphones?

They used to be a great tech company. They built things that enthusiasts loved. I still remember fondly my WM-10. It was a sad day when I dropped it and broke the headphone jack.

There are two things that I believe led them to the brink of the disaster they currently find themselves in:

1) Proprietary technology: Sony's history with proprietary technology goes back decades. A partial list:
- Betamax (VHS won even though technologically inferior)
- MD (CDs were more versatile and sounded better)
- Memory Sticks (an unneeded but pricy competitor to SD, CF, etc.)
- Bluray (I still wish HD-DVD had won that war).

IBM learned their lesson about proprietary commodity hardware when their PS/2 attempt tanked.

2) Purchase of Columbia Pictures (1989): With this purchase, their media arm became the tail that wagged the dog, and it continued with their purchase of BMG. They forgot about enabling their customers with technology, and used their technology to inhibit their customers instead, all in the name of protecting their media. This led them to blunders such as their use of XCP and MediaMax rootkits They still haven't learned their lesson, as it continues with BD+

Several cable companies are falling into this same trap. When a single entity owns both the media and the distribution channel, consumer trust evaporates as the entity inevitably tries to tie the two into a monopoly.

When will it end? And can we as consumers ever trust them again?

I seriously doubt it. I haven't bought any Sony gear for nearly a decade, and I don't think I'm the only one.

RIP, Sony - 1946 - 201x

Re:Sony's war on their customers

[JWW]

What's the downside again?

D fucking R fucking M....