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Sony's Problems Can't Be Solved Without New Blood

The other thing is that there's all kind of strategic partnerships that Sony could utilise to draw the focus of the PS3 away from games and towards entertainment. In the UK, British Telecom (BT) have recently released a box that allows users watch tv on demand through it. Now this is BT's first foray in to the tv market and they are taking on industry giants BSKYB and the second biggest Telecoms and also TV company in the UK in Virgin Media. BT's product is a good one but it lacks a lot of features like HD and internet surfing capabilities. SKY has the disadvatage of still needing to broadcast via satellite dishes and Virgin lack the actual content. So there is potential to exploit there. If Sony and BT tied up a strategic alliance in the UK it could offer us a glimpse of the future. BT would be able to market increased capabilities to it's customers with the potential to watch HD shows on demand by buying a PS3. And Sony would benefit by being marketed by the UKs biggest Telecoms company.

Another partnership could be with Blockbuster. I understand Blockbuster announced a few months ago that they will only be stocking blu-ray discs and not HD DVD discs. Blockbuster were late in to the dvd online rental market and as a result they are only no. 2 in the UK market to Lovefilm. Blockbuster could agree to supply blu-ray disc subscriptions cheaper if Sony gave Blockbuster small discounts on the PS3 units.

I see loads of these opportunities that could be vital in jump starting the great PS3 obsession.

Sony's Problems Can't Be Solved Without New Blood

You took the words right out of my mouth Mike. The whole reason Sony lost ground was because they delayed the release of the PS3 in order to get the blu-ray player in it. Now they've done that they're not exactly going out of their way to market it's media capabilities. In fact, I've not actually seen one advert for the PS3 in the UK despite constantly seeing Wii adverts in magazines, on tv and on bill boards. This is very poor. The PS2 marketed itself. It was a no nonsense gaming machine that was better than the rest. But the PS3 has so much more. Sony needs to tell people about this. Sony only have themselves to blame on this. As soon as they get people realising that this machine can replace your computer then people may sit up and take notice.

I still think long term that sony will win this battle. But short term they're just not thinking right. Why not market it along side the Bravia tv range. Bring the strategies in line and see people buy them in droves.

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.

PlayStation 3 Sales Solid in Europe Debut

As I've been saying all along. I just couldn't understand everyone's concerns about the PS3. This is the future. The Xbox 360 is the present but why have the present when you can have the future right now. The Wii? Well, I've said all along that the Wii is different. IT's not in a fight with Sony and Microsoft because it's aimed at a different market. Plus it's longevity has already been questioned by those who own one.

The new Xbox Elite is not going nearly far enough. A hdmi output and a 120gb hard drive? Are you kidding me. Is that all you've got Microsoft?!!!

Nintendo vs. Sony: Like Atari vs. Betamax All Over Again

Yeah, it's not the ssame thing. Fair enough HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray is the same as VHS vs Betamax but there are otehr variables this time. I don't think you can bracket the Wii in with the Xbox 360 and the PS3 because it doesn't offer the same things. We should be keeping an eye on the Xbox 360 vs PS3 battle rather than what the Wii is doing.

What Sony needs to ensure is that their online experience is up to scratch. To make sure that downloading of games and video is good and also making the online gaming experience as good as the Xbox 360.

We're only in the first mile of a 26 mile marathon here so hold your horses!

EA: Microsoft, Sony, We Have a Problem

Great comments Thomas. I agree 100%. Where all this over hype of the Xbox360 has recently come from I'm not sure. Microsoft claims to have shipped 10m of them by the end of 2006 but reports show that there are significant amounts of surplass inventory being held by stores world wide which suggests that microsoft were shipping like mad just to meet their targets. I can see no way but down for the Xbox360.

The Wii certainly does have "velocity" right now as Robert put it. But I've been reading in a number of places that the gaming experience is very short lived. People get bored of the gimicky controller.

In the end it will be the hard core gamers who decide who the winner is. Long term the PS3 is the only winner.

Watch SNE stock reach 70 by mid 2008.

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Hi Dharmesh,

I understand that PS3 games probably aren't flying off the shelves. But that's only to be expected less than two months after it's tentative release. The US didn't get as many PS3's as expected and therefore there aren't as many owners to buy games. Add to that the lack of quality games around at the moment and the cost of them then I'm sure some of the poorer quality games are sticking to the shelves. The Wii has had a much better start selling far more machines. But this isn't because it's more popular. It's simply because it's more widely available.

Sony are not going to be judging the PS3's success based on the next 12 months so neither should anyone else. Conversely Nintendo probably will judge the success of the Wii on the next 12 months because I don't expect the "Wii factor" to last much longer than that.

The Wii will be a short term success. But wii all know that it's long term success that counts and Sony has the specs necessary to ensure that success. Already we're talking about 49% market penetration in flatscreen tv's and that's enough for me. These flatscreen tv owners will be disappointed with the graphics of the Wii. The HD pictures of the PS3 is the only long term winner.

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Fair point William. As I said I probably don't have as much insight as you. I do remember reading a blog that they do have $18 billion though. I didn't know that they also have a lot of debt. Seem quite a large amount to have $10.5 billion in debt though.

I think that the last three years has been very tough for Sony. It was only last year that I was actually predicting their death. This was due to a number of problems. They severely failed in the mp3 and flatscreen markets in terms of getting in there early enough. That was one of the biggest mistakes in corporate history on both accounts as far as I'm concerned. And due to the constant interference from their media division they have properly messed up their chances in the mp3 market. They must try and come back though. But as far as the LCD division is concerned they are finally flying. I'd say they'll probably crown themselves kings of the LCDs next year with their current line up supposedly being the best looking LCD pictures ever.

This next year sees Sony moving back to the top of the world as far as tvs are concerned and also maintain their number one spot with the new PS3 as far as games consoles concerned. Add to that the probably that Blu-Ray will succeed in the next gen format wars and you've got a probable very successful year for Sony. I doubt it will show in their 07/08 profits too much but it will show in their sales figures.

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Just one more thing. Your comment about the "build it and they will come". How can you compare the small time start ups of the dot com boom bust to Sony?!!! The dot coms didn't have strategies based on historical sales. They had never sold anything before but were building these websites thinking that people would quickly come on board and buy them. You could maybe liken the dot com boom bust to the Xbox 1 in a way but it would still be a bad example.

With the PS3 you are looking at a brand that has a huge world wide following that has been built by selling the two of the biggest selling consoles of all time (only behind the snes I think). Playstation vs Dot Com start ups? Erm... Taxi!!!

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Hi William,

I'm not sure of your background or knowledge into the industry but I am sure it is many times more layered and experienced than myself but I do find your comments astonishing. Do you actually believe that Sony will bankrupt themselves over this? I've seen that mentioned on this site before which is just silly. I can't remember how much surplus cash Sony have but I seem to remember it being something like $18 billion. So let's put things into perspective. Sony could fail to sell any more PS3's and still not go bankrupt. The only way they could lose all of that cash would be if they sold 60 million PS3's tomorrow at a loss of $300 a piece. But even then they'd be laughing because they would reap the rewards of selling games to the owners of these 60 million consoles.

And Sony won't be lowering the price any time soon. I'll almost guarantee it. Maybe next Christmas they'll reduce the price by $100 but by that time the technology will have come down in price by $200-300. The three most expensive things in the PS3 (the Blu-Ray drive, the Cell processor, and the Graphics Card) make up a huge proportion of the unit cost and each one will come down in cost price significantly over the next year.

As far as upgrading the PS3 over time then I think you're really missing the point here and I find this just as astonishing that an electronics blogger would suggest that this would be possible. Why didn't they just upgrade the PS1 and PS2 over time? Because it amounts to a whole new console that's why. They can't just upgrade the processor and graphics card willy nilly. It then means that all the games developed to the new processor/graphics card power standard will not be playable on the older PS3 consoles. I'm actually still struggling to believe that you suggested such a thing so I'm going to stop there.

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Shrinking high end of the market Scott?!!! Where have you been for the past ten years? The high end technology market is booming. How else could you explain that millions are buying flatscreen tv for many more times the price that they would have previously paid for a crt tv? And here's the thing. Technology gets cheaper by the day. So while Sony may be losing $300 per machine right now in 18 months time it will be making a profit. And in 18 months time people will have got bored of the Wii long ago. In 18 months time developers will still be improving the PS3 games rapidly. Every year with the PS3 will be like owning a new console because every year the games will improve significantly. On the other hand it won't take long before the games developers will have reached a dead end with the Wii and then soon after with the Xbox 360.

Games consoles wars and anything in Technology are not sprints. That's what the average consumer seems to think. They think oh wow this is going to kill the other thing because it's cheaper and does everything we need it to right now. And that's the thing, the Wii does everything anyone wants it to right now. But what about in a years time?

I have a feeling this is the last true great console war as we know it. When the next one comes round in 4 years time things will have changed. In fours years time I do not expect anything other than the PS3 to be standing on the podium and the other two to be "also rans" who were simply guilty of sprinting the first mile of a marathon.

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

To me this could just be some very clever marketing. It is laying down the gauntlet to the developers by saying some on let's see what you've got. And these developers are not stupid. They'll start to understand from a very early stage how much of the Cell processing power they are using. They may not have the time or resources at this stage to use it to it's potential but they will understand what the need to do in the future to get there.

Secondly, it's not just the cost of the Cell processor that has contributed to the high cost of the PS3 so it's a bit naive to blame it just on that. By putting in a cheaper processor it may only have saved $50-75. And the delays were mainly caused by the Blu-Ray drive and not the processor so it is also naive to suggest that we would have got the PS3 any sooner had Sony opted for a cheaper and slower processor.

Sony's Media Divisions May Be Sinking The Company

Lol. Isn't it funny how different people have such different opinions. Here I was for the last two months spending an enormous amount of time looking into Sony and reading up about their two new key products (the Bravia range and the PS3) and thinking all the time that this is Sony's chance to regain their premium brand. They've not had their premium brand status for a while now I would say. So it's not them just losing it now. But they have suffered recently I'll admit that.

Anyway, I find the timing of your article very very strange. Had you done this 12 months ago then fair enough (in fact you may well have and are just reposting it now). But Sony have just released (according to all the reviews that I've read) the greatest range of LCD screens that we have ever seen. If you ask me a quality product deserves to be tagged as a premium product. If the Bravias are that good then they will sell at a premium price whether they have Sony's badge on it or not. And that is the key. Sony got the premium brand tag by developing premium technology. They then rode the wave for a while by selling overpriced kit but now they've actually got two products that deserve to carry the premium brand tag again. Secondly while the PS3 is expensive it's not overpriced. Not for what you get. It's just that some of the complaints so far is that some people don't need all of what the PS3 has to offer. But if you ask me people will need these features in one or two years time and this console war has only just started. There won't be another new console out for a few years so while the Wii may win in the short term Sony has positioned itself beautifully for the long term. And by throwing in the Blu-Ray it's also helping it's short term because it gives those wishing to buy a HiDef player a cheap route into the market. And the reviews that I've read actually say that the PS3 Blu-Ray capabilities are better than the current stand alone machines that cost twice as much.

The Bravia and the PS3 will carry Sony out of the doldrums and back into the big time. I see long term. You obviously need to put your glasses on because your can't see very far right now.

Sony PS3 Misses Sales Target, Xbox 360 and Wii May Beat Targets

I certainly feel that the predicted trouble of Sony with the PS3 is very premature from Carl. Thomas certainly put things into perspective here when he said that total Xbox 360 sales so far only represent 10% of what the PS2 has sold so far. That doesn't include Christmas season sales though so I'm assuming that by the end of this year the 360 may have sold around 12m units. Bear in mind that for the past 3 quarters the PS2 has actually outsold the 360.

Sony may have had trouble over the past few years but they've never put a foot wrong as far as the Playstation brand is concerned so to predict that they have done it here is a bit rich. The 360 may have better games but surely that's a no-brainer considering that the 360 has been out for over a year and the PS3 has been out a matter of weeks. And maybe the first selection of PS3 games have only marginally better graphics you wait until this time next year.

And don't predict the end of Sony yet. If you were to list the worlds four most highly sort after consumer electronic goods they would be as follows: MP3 players, Computers (with a larger percentage of them being laptops by the day), Flatscreen TV's, and Games Consoles. Sony is failing with MP3 players. But who isn't? Apple have that one tied up for the time being. They are holding their own ground on the laptop front but it's a saturated market with too many players. It is the new generation Sony Bravia range that is taking the flatscreen tv world by storm. The reviews for the latest models has firmly put Sony back on the top of the pile where they share it currently with long term players Panasonic and Philips. And now they have the PS3 coming out which follows the PS2 which has so far sold over 100m units worldwide.

On two out of the four above Sony is showing huge potential once again. And if someone finally wises up at their MP3 division I fully expect them to be the main challengers to the iPod in the coming years.

Write them off at your peril. The sleeping giants are just waking from their hibernation.

PS3, XBox or Wii: Pros and Cons of Gaming Consoles

Here's the first evidence that the controller is going to get boring

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