The Pride That Killed Sony

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.forbes.com/home/2003/11/05/cz_bf_1104sony.html">http://www.forbes.com/home/2003/11/05/cz_bf_1104sony.html</a><br /><br />"The once seemingly-invincible Sony has stumbled during the stewardship of Chairman and Chief Executive Nobuyuki Idei. Sales and profits have plunged and the company has been forced into a major restructuring. Idei spent so much time thinking about telecommunications and the Internet that he ignored the company's core electronics division and key products like televisions."<br /><br />What could this mean for their computing business, and as it relates to this site, their line of Clie PDAs?<br /><br />"Sony has suffered from hubris, the pride that kills. Several years ago, a Sony executive told me that because it no longer had "any real competitors" it must concentrate on its "creative dreams." No longer. On October 28, Sony held a press conference, in a hall filled with over 1,000 journalists, to announce a major restructuring to cope with plunging sales and profits."<br /><br />No one I've talked to has been able to see any way possible for Sony to make money on their line of Palm OS based Clies, but man they sure do have style - products of their "creative dreams" it seems. Well, Sony has now had a stiff dose of reality, being forced to cut 20,000 jobs in a country where hiring for life is still the norm, not the exception. They are also cutting components from 840,000 to 100,000. Maybe the Clie line will be exempt from these cuts, but I doubt it. It would seem the days of 3 new designs every 3-4 months are over.

[Thinkingmandavid]

Makes one wonder if the ux50/40 line is worth the money spent since it is so high priced. If it is tha much to the consumer, is it worth production? Of course I have not seen the numbers of how well it is/is not selling. I have a sony viao laptop and it SUCKS :!:

[SandersP]

'killed Sony'? I am not aware Sony has died

[HailFire]

Advice to Sony:

Adopt Windows CE!!!!

Clie form-factors running Windows would be the be-all end-all of handhelds. I hope this Nobuyuki Idei guy knows this.

[bdeli]

Makes one wonder if the ux50/40 line is worth the money spent since it is so high priced.

This week Sony cut the prices of both the UX40 and the UX50 and rumours of a UX80 are already circulating around the net. I do not beleive that the Clie line will be the one which will end up with the biggest cuts during restructuring.

I have a sony viao laptop and it SUCKS :!:

As for VAIO laptops - I totally agree!!!!! And do not even bother to mention their support on their VAIO line - IT JUST SUCKS!

[guinness]

Sony overexpanded itself too far; they should dump their assets not related to eletronics (Sony Music, Pictures, etc) and go back to what made them.

[DaleReeck]

Sony denied that there is a UX80 waiting in the wings. In light of this new news, I am willing to take them on their word with that. They would be lucky if there were ANY new Clie for the time being.

[James Fee]

Well, Sony has now had a stiff dose of reality, being forced to cut 20,000 jobs in a country where hiring for life is still the norm, not the exception.
Only 7,000 job cuts will be made in Japan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3219667.stm

[Foo Fighter]

I've been predicting Sony would exit the PDA business, but according to Sony's PR man, they aren't going out of the biz anytime soon.

http://www.pocketfactory.com/archives/000115.html

[Thinkingmandavid]

They may not be going out of the biz, but they for sure need to reanalyze their position and goals in the pda market. and yes they should adapt windows, period. Palm, oh excuse me, palmone :roll: is not the way to go. I feel it is such a wase of the nice hardware on the palm, oh excuse me, palmone :roll: software.

[Joff]

I have always had mixed fellings about Sony. They do design great stuff. But they also have this nasty habit to go their own way. I hate memory Stincks. Several years ago, I had a Minidisc player. Great technology but patent rights and copyright protections suck! I have a VIAO and I am pleased with it, good design but Sony is always lagging behind in terms of features (USB2 have they heard of it, I think they have now...)

[Jeff Song]

Sony overexpanded itself too far; they should dump their assets not related to eletronics (Sony Music, Pictures, etc) and go back to what made them.

Right, cuz that will help them out. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a very large portion of Sony's revenues is derived from the entertainment sector. If they got rid of that, then they would be in worse shape. They would drop Clies way before they would drop their Movies and Music division.

[Jonathan1]

"The once seemingly-invincible Sony has stumbled during the stewardship of Chairman and Chief Executive Nobuyuki Idei. Sales and profits have plunged and the company has been forced into a major restructuring. Idei spent so much time thinking about telecommunications and the Internet that he ignored the company's core electronics division and key products like televisions."

All because of one little product....the memory stick. ;)


Seriously. I love Sony brand home entertainment equipment. My DVD player is Sony, my TV is Sony, my stereo is Sony, and much to my dismay (damn them for changing the MS types :evil: ) my Digital Camera is Sony. If it wasn’t for the proprietary nature of some of their products they would be a killer company but Sony HAS to zig when the industry is zagging.

[DrtyBlvd]

'killed Sony'? I am not aware Sony has died

Ed keeps trying, he just hasn't managed it quite yet....

[Ed Hansberry]

'killed Sony'? I am not aware Sony has died

Ed keeps trying, he just hasn't managed it quite yet....
It is funny how I post the title of an article and I am the one credited somehow with the article itself. :roll:

[DrtyBlvd]

Oh puhhhleasssseeee " :roll: "

Jesting at your dislike for all things Sony by reference to your posting the news is hardly crediting you with its' creation Ed :lol:

[Jonathon Watkins]

All because of one little product....the memory stick. ;)

:twisted: Darn right. :twisted:

Well - they are learning. Thier latest Camera can take CF cards as well, so it's a move in the right direction anyway.

[maximus]

'killed Sony'? I am not aware Sony has died

Ed keeps trying, he just hasn't managed it quite yet....

:rotfl:

Seriously, sony's consumer division is being run over by matsu****a (national/panasonic), which posted record income this fiscal year. Last week's wall street journal mentioned that until october 2003, the sales of matsu****a's consumer electronic vs. sony's consumer electronic is already at 1.8 to 1 ratio. sony's gaming division is being plundered by Xbox. memory sticks are declared as the silliest product ever made (by me)

Rest in peace.

[marconelly]

sony's gaming division is being plundered by Xbox.
Yeah, right.

Sales of PS2 and related games, are *killing* Xbox and Gamescube combined in each and every market (US, Europe and Japan). Xbox is barely struggling for the far-behind second place on the market against the Gamecube. Not only Ps2 has sold approx 60M units worldwide compared to approx 10M of Xbox and Gamecube each, but it keeps outselling them, sometimes in shameful ratios.

Another nice thing coming from Sony:
PSP (playstation portable) Here's a concept design from Sony's presentation couple of days ago.

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/pspmodel1_in.jpg

Specs:
UMD(Universal Media Disc)
60mm
Laser Diode:660nm
Dual Layer :1.8GB
Transfer Rate:11Mbps
Shock Proof
Secure ROM by AES
Unique Disc ID

PSP CPU CORE
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Main Memory :8MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
FPU, VFPU (Vector Unit) @ 2.6GFlops
3D-CG Extended Instructions

PSP Media Engine
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Sub Memory:2MB(eDRAM) @ 2.6GB/sec
I-Cache, D-Cache
90nm CMOS

PSP Graphics Core 1
3D Curved Surface + 3D Polygon
Compressed Texture
Hardware Clipping, Morphing, Bone(8)
Hardware Tessellator
Bezier, B-Spline(NURBS)
ex 4x4, 16x16, 64x64 sub-division

PSP Graphics Core 2
'Rendering Engine' + 'Surface Engine'
256bit Bus, 1-166 MHz @ 1.2V
VRAM :2MB(eDRAM)
Bus Bandwidth :5.3GB/sec
Pixel Fill Rate :664 M pixels/sec
max 33 M polygon /sec(T&L)
24bit Full Color:RGBA

PSP Sound Core: VME
Reconfigurable DSPs
128bit Bus
166MHz @1.2V
5 Giga Operations /sec
CODEC
3D Sound, Multi-Channel
Synthesizer, Effecter, etc

AVC Decoder
AVC(H.264) Decoder
Main Profile
Baseline Profile
@Level1,Level2,Level3
2Hours(High Quality) - DVD movie
4Hours(Standard Quality) - CS Digital

I/O
USB 2.0
Memory Stick
Extension Port(reserved)
Stereo Head phone Out

Communication
Wireless LAN (i802.11)
IrDA
USB 2.0

[beq]

I also don't think Sony will divest its long-time entertainment media subsidiaries. BTW, isn't it weird to see just how important Playstation is to Sony's bottom line now? Was it also introduced under Idei's reign?


'killed Sony'? I am not aware Sony has died
Ed keeps trying, he just hasn't managed it quite yet....

No offense to our friend Ed, that's just one funny line :rotfl:

[marconelly]

Was it also introduced under Idei's reign?
Yes, but the huge investments with no immediate profit idea wasn't quite welcomed with open hands by Idei. The Playstation push came primarily from Ken Kutaragi, a high Sony exec, but Idei eventually accepted it (to no regret, of course)

[jlp]

sony's gaming division is being plundered by Xbox.
Another nice thing coming from Sony:
PSP (playstation portable) Here's a concept design from Sony's presentation couple of days ago.

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/pspmodel1_in.jpg

Looks like a computer generated image. And with this keychain type thingie linked to it it looks tiny.

Specs:
UMD(Universal Media Disc)

Newest Sony BetaMax, third take!!

PSP CPU CORE
MIPS R4000 32bit Core
128bit Bus
1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V
Main Memory :8MB(eDRAM)

MIPS CPU, 333MHz (max!! Variable from 1 MHz) & 8 MB RAM, hardly impressive!! 10 years ago maybe, but not today!!!


MemorySTINK Quote adapted

No wonder everybody hates it :D !!!

[foldedspace]

The Sony PSP looks neat, but how much? I'm guessing 300-400 dollars. The GBA goes for 99 bucks. Sony might kill off the Tapwave, but I doubt it will appeal to the same market as Nintendo.

[marconelly]

Looks like a computer generated image. And with this keychain type thingie linked to it it looks tiny.
It's a concept art. Look it up in a dictionary. It's a bit bigger than the old non-clamshell design GBA, with a 4.5" widescreen.

Newest Sony BetaMax, third take!!
1.8Gigabytes dedicated to handheld gaming. If it doesn't get used to anything else but PSP games, it's a perfect format for what it's intended.

MIPS CPU, 333MHz (max!! Variable from 1 MHz) & 8 MB RAM, hardly impressive!! 10 years ago maybe, but not today!!!
I think you've missed the little GPU part of the equation. 33M polygons per second theoretical performance with texture compression, NURBS and shading capabilities. This thing will be able to deliver graphics in the class (slightly below, of course) of today's game consoles. In terms of graphical performance, it's leaps and bounds ahead of what we have today on Pocket PCs, Palms, Zodiacs, nGages and others.

No wonder everybody hates it !!!
If by everybody you mean basement dwellers with nothing better to do but hate particular company then yes. The rest of the gaming world is waiting for it on it's tiptoes.

The Sony PSP looks neat, but how much? I'm guessing 300-400 dollars. The GBA goes for 99 bucks.
We'll see. Sony was willing to lose money initially on PS1 and PS2 hardware they were selling. With consoles, the money also gets made back on game royalties and such. I expect they will be willing to lose some money on PSP too, as to gain as much userbase as possible. It worked for them with PS1 and PS2. Also, they will be manufacturing almost every key component of PSP themselves, which also saves a lot of cost. My guess would be $200-250. They are not stupid, they see how Nokia was laughed at and boycotted by gamers for pricing their nGage at $300.