Sony who is fast becoming the laughing stock of the technology world is now being slammed by the British media following their attempts to compete with Apple in the music download market. The Company that is losing millions in Australia after revenues plunged $201 million earlier this year has been described as a brand for “Adults” not teenagers.
In a damming critique of their recent Qriocity launch the Company has been ridiculed by the UK newspaper the Guardian, technology columnist John Naughton, wrote “You have to feel sorry for Sony sometimes. I mean to say, there it was on Wednesday in Berlin, at the IFA consumer electronics show, launching a new music and video download service called Qriocity (it’s like “curiosity”, only it couldn’t get the domain name, I suppose) – and what happens? Steve Jobs goes on stage in San Francisco and announces that Apple is having another go at the TV download business.
And guess who gets all the media coverage?
How are the mighty fallen. I remember a time when Sony dominated the gadgetry business, when it was a synonym for elegant design and advanced functionality, when Walkmans ruled the world. It had shops in upmarket malls where young males came to drool.
And now? Ask a teenager about Sony and s/he will reply: “Aren’t they the outfit that makes flat-screen TVs and DVD players and other stuff for adults?” Analysing the reasons for Sony’s fall from grace would make for an interesting MBA thesis. My favoured candidates are a failure to understand software and missing the significance of the internet.
Whatever the explanation, however, the outcome was what we witnessed last week – massive coverage of Steve Jobs strutting his stuff in San Francisco, while over in Berlin poor old Fujio Nishida, president of Sony Europe, might as well have been flogging army-surplus radios in a Baghdad souk.
For the rest of the story see http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/sep/05/apple-tv-ping-sony-qriocity
