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Long In the Tooth, Sony Needs a Protein Jolt

I personally don't think they should have released a PS3 Lite. It would have ruined they medium to long term business model. That model includes a successful Blu-Ray. While it is still in doubt it is certainly more probable now that it's in the PS3. Fair enough it's probably held back the PS3 sales quite substantially but let's be honest the lack of decent games have done that on their own. What I think Sony was worried of happening was another SACD vs DVD Audio debacle where both failed. Their prime reason for failure was that no one became interested in either due to the costs of the player and that resulted in limited support from the music industry. By getting a few million Blu-Ray players on to the market already they have guaranteed the support of the movie industry and also speeded up the process which will see the prices of Blu-Ray players reduced.

I for one think it's a great move. Sony basically have a medium term vision of the PS3 being a home entertainment hub. People just can't see it right now because the games on the PS3 are rubbish and the demand for HD movies and online content is relatively low right now. But knowing how well their Bravia range is now selling I think they are well aware that the demand will take off relatively soon. We need internet connections to continue to rise rapidly and then they are all set.

As for Stringer. Well Roger is probably right. Sony is doing most things right. But it seems that many of the areas of business that Sony could have working in some sort of harmony through good top level management aren't working properly. I think this will hinder them rather than stop them altogether. I don't think that they market many of their products very well either. Sony shouldn't be about being cool anymore. Apple have that sewn up. Convergence should be the name of the game for Sony.