How Sony Lost Its Way

More than anything , Sony ’s lose its flavour , spending too much time assure us it ’s the bully electronics caller in the man and not nearly enough demo us .

Proprietary Formats

Sony ’s last huge formatting hit was a product called “ Compact Disc ” . You might have heard of it . Spinning plastic wheel with pits in the bottom ? show by optical maser ? conscientious objector - developed with Philips ?

It took a couple of year for CDs to take hold , but once they did , Sony rake in the cash . Not only by sell players , but by manufacturing CDs for themselves and others . It ’s a huge part of their commercial enterprise even today , asSony DADCproduces not just standard candle , but videodisc , Blu - ray , and PlayStation disc in facilities around the earthly concern .

Sony became spoiled . For decennary , a success in a new media format meant that Sony could carry to make money sell the medium itself . Through the ’ 80s and ’ 90s , they became less inclined to partake in the marketplace . Sony developed the 3.5 - in floppy disc drive for computers which discover wide adoption as clean discs were available from a variety of manufacturers . MiniDisc followed , but with less success . In 1998 as the flash memory market started to warm up , Sony introduced Memory Stick , what finally became an integral household of expensive flash retention formats that were not compatible with devices from any other manufacturers .

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And do n’t forget the Blu - ray vs. HD - DVD state of war . Sony finally won that one , but the battle continued for such a long clock time because neither consortium want to lose the market to develop medium for consumer — consumers who were progressively getting their content online .

See the problem ? prison term and again , Sony took an splendidly direct solution and hold it tightly , the good to extract bighearted profit . But every multiplication , every iteration , Sony ’s involve to see the data formatting became more and more of a financial obligation . Even truehearted Sony customers could tell the proprietary data formatting were a screw job , eroding their happiness with their Sony production every time they had to shell out a agio to corrupt a Sony - authorized space .

Unwillingness to Commit

Sony is rife with good ideas . Too afraid to commit to each one fully , Sony instead resign a ridiculous number of products in an attempt to see which might take grasp , making many that seem like one - off oddities that even Sony does n’t think in .

Take “ Bravia Link “ , the streaming media box that Sony decide to sell as a $ 200 aftermarket alternative for its televisions while Sony ’s challenger were integrating similar service correctly into the idiot box . uncollectible , Sony sells the PlayStation 3 . Why not mix the cyclosis service into that , add value to the PS3 and buy - in of its client ?

Or what about theParty - shot Automatic Photographer , a pier that works with just two model of Sony ’s level - and - shoot cameras to automatically write and shoot portraits of party - goers . Great idea — so why is n’t it just built into every camera Sony make ?

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Nintendo run through Sony ’s lunch with the Wii — so Sony is build a Wiimote clon for the PS3 .

Netbooks were live — so Sony establish a netbook twice as expensive as its challenger with little execution difference then have it pass off by in the market after drop millions on its launching run .

Apple announced the iPad — so Sony sound out the tablet market is a “ space [ they ] would like to be an dynamic player in . ” I am sighing preemptively for the beautiful smutty slating that Sony will bring out in 2011 , then never upgrade again . In the meantime Sony is pushing its fresh Chumby - free-base Dash machine , or as you may acknowledge it , a five - in thick touchscreen pad that you have to keep plugged into a paries .

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For a brief moment , Sony ’s Vaio notebooks were among the most beautiful and colourful around . But it did n’t take long for Sony ’s larger notebook computer challenger like HP to catch up on design — while Sony keep to charge a agio for their now fund - stock “ pretty ” laptops . Gartner analyst Leslie Fiering put it damningly : “ They ’ve been position quo for so long that it ’s gruelling to see signaling of alteration . If they continue on the itinerary they ’re on , they ’re going to go forward to be an also - ran . ”

That ’s today ’s Sony : an also - ran who wants to be honor like a mart leader .

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For homework , Sony could start with these three studies from Stanford School of Business : “ Too Much Choice Can Hurt Brand Performance “ ; “ require Consumers to Compare May Have Unintended Results “ ; and “ For purchaser , More selection Means Better Quality “ .

That last one might seem bolster Sony ’s shotgun marketing plan until you read this warning : “ In one study , for example , consumers gave top ratings to a restaurant that volunteer a all-embracing variety of dish in one category — Thai food for thought . But when that eating house was portrayed as offer not only Siamese food for thought but also solid food in other categories , consumer ratings went down . ‘ In some cases , having a mess of unrelated options is a sign to the consumer that the stigma is not focused , and therefore ca n’t be very good . ' ”

Arrogance

There ’s no better object lesson of the arrogance of the modern Sony than the launching of the PlayStation 3 . It was the last of the current generation of biz console to market . It be more than all its competitors . Kaz Hirai , then chairwoman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America and now the head of the entire ball of wax worldwide , said infamously , “ The next generation does n’t startle until we say it does . ”

People were rolling their eyes at Sony even as Hirai and his executive team made those exalted statement — but our eyes flip all the direction into the backbone of our skull after Sony spent the next three years clamber in a videogame market they once dominated .

Why Sony would present this cocky look to the world is impossible to understand , until you realize that it ’s the sort of ego - delusional rhodomontade , pre - game trash talk , from a team that has n’t win a championship in class .

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It ’s clear in their marketing and press relations , too . Sony is always quick to shed a magnanimous company , launch some laptop with a silly consequence like a style show , or hand press recapitulation unit out to lifestyle magazines but not technological publication . Having had one accidental lifestyle product success with the Walkman , Sony erroneously think that its products are stylish — when in fact the Walkman became a style icon despite its often garish or pedestrian looks .

If you think this is too harsh an estimate , reckon about the many Sony merchandise that willy-nilly terminate up in our50 Worst appliance of the Decaderoundup . Almost all of them are hangdog of more than one of the above infractions , and some — such as the $ 1900 solid - brass MiniDisc player above , a key equipment in the short - lived Qualia sumptuosity contrast — are the splendiferous avatar of all three .

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I believe Sony has the chutzpa to do more than make me - too merchandise — they’re capable of making food market - expanding production that become home names . But until they take a hard look at themselves in an honest light , Sony will continue to abash themselves by remaining the ship’s company that says they ’re bringing us the future — then sell us mathematical product even they do n’t believe in .

– With reporting by Brian Barrett and Don Nguyen

The concluded “ We Miss Sony ” series

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