I’m sure all of you are on pins and needles wondering about Sony’s revenue last quarter and forward-looking statements.
The [revenue] declines came as no surprise after Sony warned last week that its operating profit for the fiscal year ending March 31 would probably fall 30 percent short of its earlier forecast. Sony executives said the company had not been able to cut costs quickly enough to keep pace with rapidly falling prices and fierce competition in markets for flat-screen televisions, DVD recorders and video cameras.
“We anticipate that the intense environment within the electronics industry is likely to continue,” Sony’s chief executive, Nobuyuki Idei, said in a statement.
Oh really? We’re so surprised….
Then later in the article…
Ken Kutaragi, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment and a favorite to succeed Mr. Idei, acknowledged in a speech last week that Sony had been late to the market for portable MP3 players, mainly because of worries at its movie and music units about copyright protection.
“Even three years ago, because we had music, Sony was reluctant about introducing an iPod-type of new product,” Mr. Kutaragi said. “The situation in the last several years is a bit frustrating for everyone.”
Analysts say Sony needs to break down such barriers to developing innovative gadgets.
Oh, only “a bit frustrating”? I would argue your shareholders (I am one) would say more than “a bit frustrating.”
This is another one of those, “gee whiz,”-type relevatory quotes where you learn so much that you didn’t know before.
Tell me something I don’t know, PLEASE.
Tax Credits Give Sony Profit, Masking Troubled Quarter [nytimes.com]
no comments. only 1: http://www.tvhistory.tv/1960-Zenith-Ad.JPG
and 2-nd:
“Sony genuinely appears to be suffering from the innovator’s dilemma – listening to the marketing side’s views means product development will be one step behind,’ Fujimori said, (…)”
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid397533?source=
not only Sony’s problem…
the conflict over mp3′s mentioned by kutagari will haunt sony and its bottom line as long as they continue to be both a software and hardware provider.
look at the new UMD format. record labels and movie studios are hardly jumping onto that standard — even sony’s own. yesterday, the psp value pack was announced with a surprise bundle of spider-man 2 on umd — however, only for the first one million bundles. if sony pictures and SCE treated each other better than just rival siblings, one might see a larger number of bundles, and a follow-up announcement stating more UMD movies to come…
not to mention, for a portable media player, consumers would like the ability to burn their own UMD discs and play the exact content they want, be it 1.8GB of home movies, pirated MP3′s, bootlegged day 1 movies, etc. sony music and sony pictures would be vehemently opposed to that. in the end, all the sony fiefdoms lose, as well as the consumer. who wins? the competition, who doesn’t have to worry about two different mouths to feed…