As I mentioned in a previous post, Sony is releasing their eReader device in Canada at some point in the near future - the completely useless albeit enthusiastic sales reps at the Sony store said that rumour abounds that it might be arriving as early as next month but they honestly don’t know.
One has to love a company that can’t even inform their sales staff when their device might be hitting shelves - especially a device whose sales have everything to gain from foreknowledge of its release. This isn’t some lower priced undercut machine that would suffer from a competitor releasing their model first. The eReader has been on the market for a LOONG time - almost time for a new version to be released in fact and there is not comparable device - it sits in its own comfortable niche.
Speculation is also rampant over this device’s future. Sony is the commanding Shogun of the consumer electronics industry - the entire edifice goes where Sony points. However Sony is expert at destroying what would be a decisive advantage in the consumer electronics realm. From the victory of the VCR to SD Memory cards - inferior technology has reigned supreme through less fascist demand for control and total ownership.
Sony is willing to excise its nose to spite its face - the word rootkit shall ring in the halls of Sony America for quite some time. The PlayStation 3, for the moment is limping along in the battle of the consoles - something the first two never did.
Sony does one thing very very very VERY poorly - compromise. It’s so vaingloriously protective of its content and distribution mechanisms it will literally sacrifice entire product lines and consequent profits in an effort to preserve their unilateral will over content.
The PSP could’ve been a portable version of the original XBox, popular due to its hackability or even just the promise thereof. Instead it’s a very expensive shiny brick that is lagging behind its cheaper, technologically inferior competitor, the DS, by what most people would consider a futile margin. One has to wonder if the PSP is even profitable at this point.
The Mini-disc was a brilliant format - very popular in Japan and potentially wildly successful in a NorthAm that hadn’t yet been enamoured with the white deck of cards that plays music we call the iPod. Sony could’ve owned the mp3 player market before Apple even entered it.
Sony could’ve spear headed wireless home theatre / PC integration. Instead we have renegades like the slingbox. Sony literally could be propelling the market into the future instead of generating profits off of the old stand-by of TV and movies.
So, Sony has cocked up mp3s, digital content delivery, memory formats and seems to have at least be lagging in the video game front. Their TVs are getting overshadowed by Samsung and Toshiba in both size, quality and cost. JVC still beats Sony hands down in handicams - everyone else simply couldn’t afford to make them in a consumer world of cell-phone videos. Canon and Nikon make digital cameras that sony couldn’t dream of producing, from point and shoot to SLRs. I’ve used an Alpha, it’s a nice camera but I’d sooner drop the cash on Pentax then get locked into Sony’s hideously expensive Carl Zeiss lenses
I don’t claim to know Sony’s profitability or business plan inside and out. They could be making more money now than ever - but I doubt they’re growing the way they used to. It used to be a no-brainer when shopping for electronics, if you had the money you bought Sony - it wasn’t the cheapest but it was probably the best for your money. This was common wisdom because it was generally true and the competition generally rolled out crap.
Now, Sony isn’t boss-hog in terms of quality. So, what can it do? Beat the snot out of everyone on innovation and stay away from sabotaging their efforts. As a consumer it’s MADDENING to see a product one really likes, or wants to like, perverted through some ridiculous effort at technological hegemony. Sony has been handing their competition a free lunch for practically a decade through bungling of otherwise sound products. Sony needs to start integrating their products more seriously and allowing flexibility in content distribution.
Sony can learn a lot from Microsoft - it’s good to be a good guy on occasion. When Microsoft stopped being the evil corporation that everyone claims they were and started producing products that didn’t seem like they were intentionally designed to infuriate their consumers they saw huge dividends.
Now, to shout over the roar of anti-Microsoft vehemence I just need to point out a couple examples. Compare the difference between Windows ME and Windows XP Home with Windows XP Home and Windows Vista Home - there’s a big difference in their sensitivity to consumer needs.
Compare Excel in Office XP with Excel 2. They’re spreadsheet applications - the technologically pretty much plateaued immediately after VisiCalc in terms of functionality, everything after Lotus 123 was integration with other apps.
These are just a couple of examples but the list goes on. Microsoft has successfully kept profitable control over all of its rights (the caveat here is profitable control - e.g. enough control to be profitabl) and still releases a slew of new product lines all the time. If one thinks about the quantity of software coming out of that company it’s no surprise they’re the biggest.
Sony is the Microsoft of consumer electronics - they need to start acting like it.