I’m tired of Sony.
I’m tired of the bad news. The poor sales. The rootkit/DRM fiasco. The Sony Connect fiasco. The poor choice of “Bravia.” The mediocre products. The lame excuses. The lack of any vision or action by top management.
Do you still read my blog for my coverage, my rants, on Sony? If you care either way, please leave a comment. If you still read my blog for my Sony thoughts, then I’ll be re-energized and will keep the drumbeat going. Without any support, I may drop Sony and cover other stuff instead.
This is from back in March, 2005.
It is said that for all Sony’s troubles, it still has huge strengths, including a golden brand name. But the power of the Sony name is slipping too. According to Interbrand, a market-research firm, the value of the Sony brand slipped from $16.4 billion in 2000 to $12.8 billion in 2004, stagnating in the rankings at 20th place, while rivals like Panasonic and especially Samsung of South Korea were gaining fast. In Shanghai, a bellwether city for the booming new consumer market in China, youths “find themselves drawn to Samsung,” says Christopher Torrens, cofounder of Access Asia consulting in Shanghai. “Sony has definitely been left behind.”
Sony Is Not Japan – Newsweek
This is also back in March 2005.
However dubious the original rationale, the music and movie acquisitions have turned into Sony’s brightest, most profitable spot at the moment. It’s the portfolio effect you would expect in a classic conglomerate: parts of the business that are doing well cover for those that are not. Of course, the theory assumes that a given unit’s difficulties are merely cyclical. But Sir Howard’s consumer electronics business, whose DNA only supports premium pricing and lacks the software gene, may not bounce back, ever.
I Heart Rootkit | The T-Shirt
UPDATE:
There are now at least 7 class-action lawsuits in the US against Sony. Here are links to the Texas Attorney General and the Electronic Freedom Foundation, who are moving forward with two separate lawsuits.
Attorney General Abbott Brings First Enforcement Action In Nation Against Sony Bmg For Spyware Violations
EFF Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Sony BMG
What will it take for this company to learn a lesson? Hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits and weeks of bad press and angry customers across the globe? Is that enough? Sadly, I would bet that isn’t enough.
I don’t read your blog /for/ the Sony rants, but enjoy them as they come up. Lately as I see Sony in the headlines the knee jerk thought reaction is “oh, man, Gen’s gonna have a field day with this one.”
Same here Gen. I do not read your blog *for* the Sony rants but definitely enjoy them. There are not too many people that get passionate about their Sony rants like you seem to.
Don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing your viewpoints on this topic Gen.
Given my personal puchasing habits alone probably kept up Sony’s profit margin over the last few years, my general digust with them of late should have at least someone over there worried. At the very least My ranting against them should be taken as the end of the world by management. After all, if I don’t buy thier crap, then no one will.
What concerns me more is that many market analysts (of whom no names shall be mentioned), are actually starting go get bullish again on SONY. The thinking seems to be that stock prices can’t really get much worse so maybe its time to buy now while the price is in the gutter. All it will take if for Samsung to start hinting that they want to buy the lemon and prices will jump.
Of course I fully expect Sony management to take this as a sign that they have recaptured the confidence of thier stockholders.
Keep beating em down. Regardless of how bad things have been, they are still a big player with large interests at stake. Radical reform could possibly save these assets from dissaearing in the future, but weak, half hearted efforts and no clear vision of the future will doom the company to future insignifigance (kinda a metaphore for a well know Asian country methinks).
When people stop caring, and no one wants to hear about it anymore. That’s when the story is truly over.
I loooove Sony rants. The more the merrier.
Since the death of Morita, Sony has become dogdoo. It hasn’t helped the Mrs. Taro worked as a interpreter for a failed Sony JV (working with our mutual friend Adam G). The attitudes of Sony execs were appalling: lower-the-quality, just-make-it-pretty-even-it-doesnt-work-right, screw-the-customer, and just-ship-it-and-figure-out-patch-later.
Sony, Sony, Sony. Of course, they attract heat and light for much the same reason as Apple: they have spent a long time as a taste-maker, or an innovator. As an ex-insider, I think you have a special perspective, too.
My own death-to-Sony story? Well, I bought a launch-day PlayStation 2, and it succumbed to the dreaded “Disc Read Error” not long after the ludicrously short warranty expired. I liked it enough to repair the thing, and I’ve been happy with its performance at playing games, but I won’t be buying a PS3 at launch day.
Sony is going through the same sort of days in the wilderness that Apple hit somewhere between Gil Amelio and the second coming of Steve Jobs. The question is whether Sony has it in itself to rectify its three major business units (entertainment, electronics, and SCEI (the Playstation guys)). The problem is that not only to these units not talk to each other, they are often in active opposition, especially electronics and entertainment (and both hate SCEI for coming out of nowhere to be a huge part of the company).
Just my thoughts.
I think you are wasting your time. There are many more things you should/could concentrate on, that would probably be more exciting to talk about. I think you are hurting yourself mentally and business-wise by continuing your rants like this.
Please move on!
instead maybe you should just post a copy of the lyrics to Big Audio Dynamite’s 1985 song “Sony”….
ok, i’ll save you the trouble.
On the Ginza strip the 100th building
On the 100th floor
Dream team life enhancing
Behind the 100th door
Sukiyaki carried me to this place
have to hari kari if ever i lose face
Western girls at Lexington Queen
Are the prettiest girls I ever seen
I`d gladly part with hard earned Yen
Just so I could be with them
Chainsmoking at the Singalong Bar
Werged into the Subway Car
Heat up some more rice wine
Somebody just jumped on the line
Robots have run amok on the factory floor
`Bin 20 years at Sony and I can see 20 more
Hi-tech sex, wireless sets, samurai
Western ways, baseball games, apple pie
Though some will say we imitate
Produce the goods at a cheaper rate
Faster too reduced in size
Our ingenuitys` realised
I had to grab a massage cab
I left my briefcase at the lab
Godzilla ate the bullet train
Wont see Kyoto ever again
Now Papa jumped the gun back in `41
Following the flag of the rising sun
When Tojo did the Mojo
he was downed in flames
U.S. Destroyer – Kamikaze planes
The West don`t learn from history
Doomed to repeat it endlessly
We put the past on to Fuji
Then we erase it totally – Yeah!
Soon we`ll be known as Great Japan
Just like they do in Great Britain
Spelt microchip and solid state
The things that made this country great
Sony
Well if one types in “Sony Connect Player” to Google, your site comes up just behind the official Sony sites.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=sony+connect+player&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
I love and hate the rants. Well, maybe I love and hate Sony more. They both keep me interested, but make me feel kind of dirty after experiencing them.
Just when Sony had won me over as a dedicated sony gadget purchaser, even thinking of replacing my Yamaha homecinema amp with a sony digital amp.
Just when they got me making a pilgrimage to their Ginza store every time I visit Tokyo.
Just when they got me to buy a 1GB memory stick for my PSP (despite the ridiculous price)which it should have come with anyway.
They come out with an even worse mess of software than sonic stage for my network walkman (I now regret spending four solid days ripping my CDs to ATRAC3Plus).
They try to cram stealth software onto our PCs from a CD (why they think its OK to hide software on an audio CD is beyond me) and then totally mess up with the press fall-out.
They totally fail to mount any sort of counter-attack on the iPod, despite their incredibly strong multifunctional PSP product.
I agree that they seem to have lost their way, and are losing ground with existing customers, let alone winning new customers.
I find this blog informative, and the opinions thoughful. Please keep this blog going.
I’ve tired of Sony as well. These days I’ve become a Panasonic fan. Cheaper price for higher quality goods. And you don’t run the risk of the product wearing out just after the warranty ends. It’s a win-win situation.
you people are stupid. All of this anti Sony is kinda childish.
Come on Sony is a $70 billions company, do you really think they go anywhere south soon? dream on.
Sony never went bankrupt, Apple did…
“Sony never went bankrupt, Apple did…”
Sony hasn’t went bankrupt..yet.
Apple bankrupt – big f’ing deal. Look what they have now – world class music players that you can’t afford because of your union-based views of organizational behavior and profitability. Sony sucks. Period.
Ok Mr. Sony man,
We’re stupid eh? So we should all lay down and take every piece of crap tech gizmo or spy software that Sony is pushing? Me not buying anything ever again probably won’t sink the good ship Sony but I won’t have to deal with walkmans that die after 91 days or even 29 days for 1 of the cd players I had owned. I won’t have to deal with root kits or other spyware from them. I choose not to patronize Sony because of the wonderful way I as a customer was treated.. It’s your money give it to them if you want but I’m spending mine elsewhere. over
If you have had problems with Sony and their Walkman/MP3, Connect software etc, a consumer affairs tv prog is very interested to hear your story.
Contact me if you have had a problem with them – especially if unresolved
Marilyn
I bought a $1700 plus Sony notebook with a $400 plus extended warranty. When the notebook died in 2-1/2 years I sent it in to get it fixed. They said I spilled liquid in it so denied service. There was never any liquid BY it. Just their way of getting out of the warranty. They said they would get back to me because I complained about this but never did. I email and call yet get no response. They did say that if I wrote to Circuit City where I purchased the notebook, I could get some money back from my extended warranty. Never heard from them either. do I need to say more? Oh, by the way, it was the mother board. I took it ot our local repair service. $400-500 just for the part, then labor. Foget it!