Sony Decade's Biggest Failure

[Samurai_Jerk]

Top Ten Tech Turkeys

1. Aibo

About the size of a Chihuahua but a lot less annoying, Sony's robotic dog was much beloved by some, but not enough. Sony filled the pets with personality through software that also gave owners the joy of raising a dog from puppyhood, sans the messy newspapers. The company continued to add features during the dog's seven-year life span. Late models could sing, recognize faces and voices, and speak 1,000 words. The dog could even blog by posting photos from its built-in camera. But the price of about $2,000 discouraged a mass market for the herky-jerky pets. Sony discontinued Aibo in 2006 amid aggressive belt-tightening.

And the list goes on ...

[2triky]

Top Ten Tech Turkeys

1. Aibo

About the size of a Chihuahua but a lot less annoying, Sony's robotic dog was much beloved by some, but not enough. Sony filled the pets with personality through software that also gave owners the joy of raising a dog from puppyhood, sans the messy newspapers. The company continued to add features during the dog's seven-year life span. Late models could sing, recognize faces and voices, and speak 1,000 words. The dog could even blog by posting photos from its built-in camera. But the price of about $2,000 discouraged a mass market for the herky-jerky pets. Sony discontinued Aibo in 2006 amid aggressive belt-tightening.

And the list goes on ...

I think what's more telling regarding Sony is the erosion in their share of the consumer electronics market, especially such durable goods as televisions, music devices, and the like. At least they are buoyed by their relative success in the video game market.

[sublight]

I still miss the Aibo.

[Kuang_Grade]

I think the evilla was a bigger sony blunder, it was similar to the audrey in that list but Sony decided that naw, they knew better and still released it after similar items had failed in the market.

The Albo, for all its faults, at least had some nerd street cred and vaguely interesting tech....and I'm trying to remember that super exclusive line of audio video hardware that was about 15x-20x higher priced than their standard products...ah, yes the Qualia line

The cuecat would be my number 1 pick....that was train wreck anyone could have seen a mile away, but they still produced a kergillion of the readers for the customer demand that was never there, because afterall, typing URLs is sooo hard that you really need another device to do the work for you.

[Taro Toporific]

Top Ten Tech Turkeys
1. Aibo
About the size of a Chihuahua but a lot more annoying, Sony's robotic dog was much beloved by some, but not enough. Sony filled the pets with personality through software that also gave owners the joy of raising a dog from puppyhood, sans the messy newspapers. The company continued to add features during the dog's seven-year life span. Late models could sing, recognize faces and voices, and speak 1,000 words. The dog could even blog by posting photos from its built-in camera. But the price of about $2,000 discouraged a mass market for the herky-jerky pets. Sony discontinued Aibo in 2006 amid aggressive belt-tightening.

Unlike Sony's fucked puppy, check out “Spot,” Boston Dynamics' latest version of BigDog...

[JeanValjean]

Lol, it is now years that Japan is no longer in the race about robotics. They are just good at making "not moving so much" android to get one and only one goal: get buttfucked.

[matsuki]

Japan's definition of "robot" seems to include everything from wind up toys and statues. "Robot Japan" is a fairy tail.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Top Ten Tech Turkeys
1. Aibo
About the size of a Chihuahua but a lot more annoying, Sony's robotic dog was much beloved by some, but not enough. Sony filled the pets with personality through software that also gave owners the joy of raising a dog from puppyhood, sans the messy newspapers. The company continued to add features during the dog's seven-year life span. Late models could sing, recognize faces and voices, and speak 1,000 words. The dog could even blog by posting photos from its built-in camera. But the price of about $2,000 discouraged a mass market for the herky-jerky pets. Sony discontinued Aibo in 2006 amid aggressive belt-tightening.

Unlike Sony's fucked puppy, check out “Spot,” Boston Dynamics' latest version of BigDog...

Those guys at Boston Dynamics are wasting their time. That thing will never sell if they can't make it kawaii.

[Russell]

It may not sell to the Japanese military, but for sure it will to the US DoD.

[matsuki]

Those guys at Boston Dynamics are wasting their time. That thing will never sell if they can't make it kawaii.

I dunno, I think Greji might find it kinda sexy