It's official: Sony f'ed up

[Midwinter]

TOKYO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T) is likely to announce closures of Japanese factories and major divisions early next month, the Times of London said on Monday, but the company denied any such plan existed.

The maker of Bravia flat TVs and PlayStation video game consoles faces halting sales and mounting piles of inventory in the wake of the financial crisis, even as a stronger yen bites into earnings.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUKT36000820090105?feedType=RSS&feedName=technology-media-telco-SP

Sony doesn't have that many major divisions so where do you guys think these cuts going to be made? No more Bravia or Playstation is almost unthinkable.

[gkanai]

Sony doesn't have that many major divisions so where do you guys think these cuts going to be made?

Tape/media/blank DVD division should be on the block.

[Doctor Stop]

They could drop the Qualia line. Oops, they already did that a few years ago.

[Midwinter]

Tape/media/blank DVD division should be on the block.

Actually that's an interesting thought. I'm not sure if Sony outsource the production of these items and simply badge the results or not, but you might be onto something. As an outside bet, I figure the Playstation brand may be in for early retirement as Sony are still taking a loss on each system sold while the PS3 saw absolutely piss poor sales across all markets during the lead up to Xmas. Indeed, if it weren't for unit's BluRay capabilities I'd say the euthanasia squads were already on their way. Only time will tell...



BBQ, anyone?

[Kuang_Grade]

Tape/media/blank DVD division should be on the block.

I always thought it was a bit telling several years ago, when the then fancy new DVD burner on my Sony Vaio desktop failed to write properly on a vast majority of Sony brand DVD-Rs but had flawless performance when I used TDK disks.

[FG Lurker]

I always thought it was a bit telling several years ago, when the then fancy new DVD burner on my Sony Vaio desktop failed to write properly on a vast majority of Sony brand DVD-Rs but had flawless performance when I used TDK disks.

That's because if there is anything made by Sony that is even worse than a VAIO it's Sony's media.

[Buraku]

That's because if there is anything made by Sony that is even worse than a VAIO it's Sony's media.

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

[onion="SONY_FUCK_article.jpg"]93143[/onion]

[wuchan]

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

[FG Lurker]

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

Good find!

[sublight]

God, you have no idea how much I wanted to forward that to some of our old Sony contacts.

[Taro Toporific]

God, you have no idea how much I wanted to forward that to some of our old Sony contacts.

I did.

[Taro Toporific]

[url=http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE51J0GC20090220?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews" target="_blank]Reuters --Thu Feb 19, 2009[/url]
[SIZE="4"] Sony has lost its #2 place to something called Vizio. [/SIZE]
LCD TV brand Vizio Inc overtook Sony during the fourth quarter to become the second-best selling flat panel TV brand in the United States after stepping up its marketing efforts, research firm iSuppli said.
Vizio, whose TVs are made by Taiwan's Amtran Technology, took 14.3 percent of all flat panel TV shipments in the October-December period as consumers' appetite for more expensive brands fell amid the global financial crisis...
...Fourth-placed Panasonic was the only brand to outpace Vizio's growth, with its market share growing 3.12 percentage points to 10.7 percent compared to Vizio's 3.11 percentage point increase[url=http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE51J0GC20090220?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews" target="_blank]...more...[/url]

[Mulboyne]

[FG Lurker]

Ryoji Chubachi? Any relation?



Might explain some of Sony's recent problems.

[IkemenTommy]

[SIZE="4"]Sony reports $1B annual loss, first in 14 years[/SIZE] (that's a Billion with a B)

TOKYO – Sony Corp. reported its first annual net loss in 14 years and forecast a bigger loss this year, saying the pressure from sliding sales, competition in gadget prices and a strong yen was expected to continue.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company said Thursday it lost 165 billion yen ($1.72 billion) in the January-March quarter, compared to a 29 billion yen profit for the same period the previous year. That brought its full fiscal year loss to a 98.9 billion yen ($1 billion).

Sony, which makes Bravia flat-panel TVs and Cyber-shot digital cameras, said it is closing three plants in Japan to help turn its business around. It is also in the midst of cutting 16,000 workers.

Sony said no quick recovery was in sight, projecting a 120 billion yen ($1.2 billion) loss for the fiscal year through March 2010.

Maybe their new stupid god damned piece of shit will save them.

[Kuang_Grade]

After launching poorly in the US with cryptic ads that made the PS3 seem like it powered via vaguely demonic means with the weak 'play b3yond' slogan.
[yt]gqkNPcUMffU[/yt]

Sony has been steadily improving their US marketing and now seems to be gaining some of their old playstation verve back as well as having a new, somewhat useful slogan of 'it only does everything'. In this one they take a knock at Sony's 'we don't comment on PS3 price cut rumors' mantra, and I give them props for giving the internet nerd a keyboard cat T shirt, although I somehow doubt such a person would be using a Vaio laptop

[yt]JBx5SzmtT6g[/yt]

[Kuang_Grade]

Report: Nigerian Gov't Upset Over New PlayStation Ads [Update]

http://kotaku.com/5354732/report-nigerian-govt-upset-over-new-playstation-ads-%5Bupdate%5D

While news of the PlayStation 3 price drop to $299 USD appeared to have been met with universal praise, it appears that one group isn't so thrilled with Sony. That would be the entire country of Nigeria, apparently.

According to reports citing a statement from Nigeria's Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyili, the African republic is up in arms over Sony's latest PS3 ad campaign. Specifically, it appears one line from one of the commercials is an "unwarranted attack on the reputation and image of the country" according to Nigeria's federal government.

That would be "You can't believe everything you read on the internet. Otherwise, I'd be a Nigerian millionaire by now." Fictional director of rumor confirmation Kevin Butler says so in this ad, which is only amusing to me because I'm not Nigerian.

Nigeria "demands an unconditional apology from Sony Corporation for this deliberate negative campaign against the country's image and reputation" according to a cited press statement.

Update: Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications at SCEA says that the company pulled the ad shortly after it first began airing in response to customer complaints. The official PlayStation web site features the following apology: "It has come to our attention that a recent TV advertisement for PlayStation may have offended some members of the Nigerian community. We never intended to create a situation that would upset anyone, and we have taken action to immediately remove the advertisement from the air. We apologize to anyone this may have offended."

[Doctor Stop]

Somebody tell them that it's already too late:

Sony interested in challenging Apple's iPad

Sony hinted on Thursday that it's preparing a challenger to Apple's upcoming iPad.

"That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product," said Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony's CFO, who was speaking at a Tokyo news conference held to announce the company's quarterly financial results.

Oneda didn't provide any details of any planned products but did say Sony is eyeing a similar market to the upcoming Apple gadget.

"Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in," said Oneda.

Sony said in October that it plans to launch a number of new mobile products that are built around network-based services.

The devices will connect into Sony's new online service, an Internet-based store that will bring music, movies, games and electronic books to a range of Sony products including Bravia TVs, Vaio PCs, Walkman music players and Reader e-book readers.

The launch of the iPad, due in March, isn't expected to impact the e-book reader market, which Oneda said is growing "exponentially."

"The [Sony Reader] Daily Edition with 3G network connectivity has received great acclaim and we plan to expand sales going forward," he said.

[Coligny]

Somebody tell them that it's already too late:

Well... as long as they stop the PRS600 ereader... That thing is a total POS... I'm not using it... I'm fighting day in day out... When it's not the braindead user interface it's the bugs... or some dust going between the touchpad layer and the eink display... I really want to smash it against a wall most of the time...

[Doctor Stop]

Sony pulls plug on OLED TV in Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp has pulled the plug in Japan on sales of a next-generation flat TV due to sluggish demand, a setback for a product the company had trumpeted as a sign of its revival as an innovator

..."I want this world's first OLED TV to be the symbol of the revival of Sony's technological prowess. I want this to be the flag under which we charge forwards to turn the fortunes around," then president Ryoji Chubachi told a briefing in October 2007...

It looks like Sony really did drop the flag.

[2triky]

Samsung gobbling up TV market share
by Erica Ogg

Samsung Electronics' grip on the flat-panel TV market is tightening. Samsung ships almost one in five of all TVs in the world, according to a DisplaySearch report.

Almost one in five televisions shipped during the third quarter of 2009 had a Samsung label on it. That's according to DisplaySearch, a market research company that tracks sales of TVs. As The Wall Street Journal noted on Wednesday, Samsung's 17.2 percent--and growing--share of the worldwide TV market is a big deal. No company has had a 20 percent share of televisions since TVs were first sold.

The speed with which Samsung has overtaken its competitors is fairly remarkable as well. Just four years ago, the company lagged behind Sony, who was then the king of the new flat-panel scene. Since passing Sony in sales, Samsung has doubled the number of TVs it ships every year. Samsung shipped 38 million TVs last year, according to DisplaySearch, and a goal for 2010 is to sell 45 million TVs.
Sony, meanwhile, has floundered in the market it once dominated. Its worldwide market share of flat-panel TVs is 5.9 percent, according to DisplaySearch. That's behind LG (14.8 percent), Panasonic (6.9 percent), and TCL Electronics/RCA/Thomson/Alcatel (6.6 percent).

For Samsung, broad consumer acceptance of flat-panel technology has been a boon, and it appears that the company plans to milk it. Of the 38 million TVs the company shipped last year, 27.5 million were liquid crystal displays, or LCDs, and 3.5 million were plasma displays. An executive told the Journal that Samsung wants its total number of flat-panel sets to increase to 39 million this year.

Samsung has been one of the major manufacturers pushing LCD technology with light-emitting diode, or LED, backlighting, as well as Web-connected sets, and focusing less on new display technologies such as organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, technology.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10454971-260.html

[BigInJapan]

Samsung gobbling up TV market share

But not in land of the rising sun it would seem.

I haven't been to Yamada Denki etc. for awhile so I just took a gander at TV's on kakaku.com.
I looked for Samsung under plasma, nada. Looked again under LCD and zilch. Finally I found some Samsung monitors way down in the rankings of PC monitors. Hmm, from what I can see on kakaku, it would seem that Samsung is limited to selling memory, hard drives, PC monitors and a variety of small electronics.
I did find some Samsung flat screen TV's listed, but nothing newer than 2007.
Anyone know what's up with that?

[Number11]

That's because Samsung is the OEM supplier for many brands. All Sony displays are made in joint-venture facilities owned by Samsung and Sony. They're just branded differently.

[FG Lurker]

Anyone know what's up with that?

Unfortunately Samsung pulled out of the Japanese market in late 2007.

As Number11 mentioned, there are lots of Samsung panels here, just not sold with the Samsung name on them.

[FG Lurker]

Another year, another massive Sony fuck up.

This one is pretty fucking massive too: The PS3 has been rooted* and there is absolutely nothing that Sony can do to fix the problem. Hilariously this was made possible because instead of using a random numbers in their encryption system they used a single constant number.


* It's not a *nix system so the term doesn't fit exactly, but the end result is identical: the PS3 is now an open system.

[FG Lurker]

I'm guessing Sony's idea of a random number generator looks something like this.

[Coligny]

Another year, another massive Sony fuck up.

This one is pretty fucking massive too: The PS3 has been rooted* and there is absolutely nothing that Sony can do to fix the problem. Hilariously this was made possible because instead of using a random numbers in their encryption system they used a single constant number.


* It's not a *nix system so the term doesn't fit exactly, but the end result is identical: the PS3 is now an open system.

There is no other company than Sony (hum... maybe except Totoya) that deserve more every sh1t they take on their face...

[2triky]

Another year, another massive Sony fuck up.

This one is pretty fucking massive too: The PS3 has been rooted* and there is absolutely nothing that Sony can do to fix the problem.

Definitely a huge gaff but can't they still threaten to brick your console as a countermeasure? Don't know, just asking.

[Taka-Okami]

Definitely a huge gaff but can't they still threaten to brick your console as a countermeasure? Don't know, just asking.

They wont be able to brick shit as basically we now have the master keys. I read somewhere that the hid the psp master keys in there as well, so now the psp is fully open ha ha.

[Catoneinutica]

Indications are that Sir Howard is one the way out...