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Kaz Hirai details his plan to save Sony

Problem with the current Sony is that every product they make...the competition makes better.

They don't have a single product thats just the 'best'.
HMZ-T1
Vaio Z
Vita
BVM-E250 and E170 monitors

There are plenty of products Sony builds that are better than anything their competition offers.
 
5. RIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAAAACER: It's Ridge Racer! Remember that one?


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Create new platforms, allow other companies to compete on your platform, provide incentives for those companies to get on board, start relationships with other companies... Stop smothering your platforms with shitty software and stop depending on the Sony "brand".
 
Sony should really cut their TV department. Ever since they started manufacturing their own panels their PQ went down and the price went way up. They have nice aesthetic design but their being outstripped by everyone else. Take the TV budget and put it into gaming and cameras.

Err, since when have Sony made their own panels? They buy most of their panels from AUO, Sharp and Samsung, and now that they have sold their interest in S-LCD they own barely any in house panel production capacity. Basically they will go the Apple route and send everything to Foxconn and other third parties to manufacture for cheap to make sure they remain profitable.

Other than that they do need to drop a bunch of product lines in their TV divisions, one high end and one low end. Make a few sizes. Or they could just have one high end range and exit the low end market altogether. If they are going to exit panel production and go third party only it makes more sense to keep just a single product line going.
 
I would like to see some bold steps forward. For example Sony has a huge library of music and video. Unify your digital stores and open one store where everyone can shop, worldwide. Instead of just serving the US market you are now serving the global market (though you might want to have some different storefronts in different languages). Don't let the executives of those division tell you that it makes more sense to market a movie in every country in its own store. And then of course only the US Store has a decent selection of movies...

This would distinguish Sony from Apple. Apple is already doing this in their app market, but they are not doing it in the music or video space, since they are also not getting permissions from the publishers.

On a gaming related note:
Hire some competent people to run your PSN Stores (and again, unify them more). There is some hilarious incompetence going on currently in the US and EU (latest statement: "We got some submitted avatars, they are in QA and might get released sometime in March." For a bitmap, really???)
 
I'd like to think this slump is due to the original Lumines never making it onto the PStore. This whole situation could have been avoided.
 
Put every retail PS3 game on PSN and have season sales a-la Steam.

Sony saved.

If they did this they would attract a ton more sales. I think they could sell a ton of older games at a discount and have a steady revenue stream without eating into new sales. Use old games more like promotions for new or upcoming sequels, Steam style.

But i hope the statement about a better user experience is followed through. Many things can and should be refined. Sometimes I wish I would sit some of the Sony execs on my couch and make them do simple things on the PS3 to see how backwards and unintuitive things are. Some are great, but little things mar the experience.
 
Why would it be terrible? Serious question. Not trolling.

TONS of people would be out of work.

Playstation is the platform of choice for me. No more Playstation means I have to play a console I won't like as much.

Less competition means higher prices and less innovation.

Sony is one best companies when it comes to trying out new ideas. This is basically a reinforcement of point 3. MUCH less innovation and new tech in general would come along.

I could probably think of more but I just woke up.
 
HMZ-T1
Vaio Z
Vita
BVM-E250 and E170 monitors

There are plenty of products Sony builds that are better than anything their competition offers.

The HMZ-T1 is an awesome product and I would love to have one.. but why don't these companies follow Apple's lead and brand their products appropriately?

Everyone knows what an iPod is, doesn't matter if there have been 15+ revisions at this point.. it is still clearly branded as an iPod.

What the heck kind of name is HMZ-T1? It doesn't sound inviting, memorable.. I've taken antibiotics with better brand recognition.
 
from the bottom of my heart wish you success, just please don't make pemium expensive stuff that normal people can't buy, like PS3 I mean (know it wasn't your fault, just a reminder)
 
So basically, he wants to find more high margin items that Sony can use to gouge consumers and now the medical field. Great approach.
 
Most of that "plan" sounds like the same bullshit they've been saying for years, but the medical imaging idea is actually a good one.

HMZ-T1
Vaio Z
Vita
BVM-E250 and E170 monitors

There are plenty of products Sony builds that are better than anything their competition offers.

I've only heard of one of those things. That should worry Sony.
 
The HMZ-T1 is an awesome product and I would love to have one.. but why don't these companies follow Apple's lead and brand their products appropriately?

Everyone knows what an iPod is, doesn't matter if there have been 15+ revisions at this point.. it is still clearly branded as an iPod.

What the heck kind of name is HMZ-T1? It doesn't sound inviting, memorable.. I've taken antibiotics with better brand recognition.

Judging by my serial number in the second batch, they've only made a couple thousand and they're selling out pretty quickly. The name is the least of the device's problems.
 
So basically, he wants to find more high margin items that Sony can use to gouge consumers and now the medical field. Great approach.

That's what I mean when I said before, sounds to me like it's just going to be business as usual, except now they're going to stick their finger in ANOTHER pie where they won't be the market leader.

I think people forget that Kaz has been at Sony a long time and is already familiar with how things run, and is unlikely to really change much. How can he when he only really knows the Sony way.

Only someone completely fresh with a proven history of making bold decisions can turn them around now. Kaz is a Sony person, they need a non-Sony person running the show.
 
In my opinion, all of the large electronics companies have become more or less interchangable.

LG, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, JVC, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, etc all manufacture items that look more or less the same and perform more or less the same. This comes from them manufacturing the same items on a consumer level and as a result will not get brand recognition for it. Sony as a premium brand within this field is a long forgotten concept.

The companies that are more niche like Sennheiser, Yamaha, Denon, and Bang and Olufsen stand out way more to me in their respective fields. I'd never go and get a Sony Receiver before looking at the companies that are more dedicated to audio.

Playstation is their most visible singular brand. They have kept the name for 15 plus years now and it is still associated with video gaming for a wide age group. I hope they continue to focus and leverage the brand. They could be doing much more with it if they applied it to other product lines appropriately.
 
That's what I mean when I said before, sounds to me like it's just going to be business as usual, except now they're going to stick their finger in ANOTHER pie where they won't be the market leader.

I think people forget that Kaz has been at Sony a long time and is already familiar with how things run, and is unlikely to really change much. How can he when he only really knows the Sony way.

Only someone completely fresh with a proven history of making bold decisions can turn them around now. Kaz is a Sony person, they need a non-Sony person running the show.

This!
 
That's what I mean when I said before, sounds to me like it's just going to be business as usual, except now they're going to stick their finger in ANOTHER pie where they won't be the market leader.

I think people forget that Kaz has been at Sony a long time and is already familiar with how things run, and is unlikely to really change much. How can he when he only really knows the Sony way.

Only someone completely fresh with a proven history of making bold decisions can turn them around now. Kaz is a Sony person, they need a non-Sony person running the show.

I disagree. They have to pick someone with taste AND business acumen from within and give this person unprecedented control over the clusterfuck that is Sony. I am not sure if that is Kaz. Hope it is.
 
I'm always amazed when I see everything Sony has under the Sony banner yet none of these companies work in unison.
I don't even think Kaz can make that happen.
 
As far as games goes, they need to secure more exclusives, that RE6 demo situation is downright stupid.

And now I wonder if Sony will build another powerhouse equivalent of $600 for the next generation, that would another dumb decision.


This is interesting.

Philips will defend there share tooth and nail
 
Kaz is a Sony person, they need a non-Sony person running the show.
When Japanese firms get into strife, they tend to look to a Japanese internal figure to make the hard decisions. Kaz is an ideal choice. Here's hoping he gets enough internal support to succeed in his vision.
 
That doesn't sound reassuring tbh. Medical area as a future core business? Good luck competing with well established companies like GE and Siemens and have fun gaining ground on them. Cutting costs in the TV business is all fine and dandy but this sounds more like being even more interchangeable with other manufacturers and even with a lot of price-cutting they won't be able to compete on price with other competitors.

I know, I know, armchair analyst etc. but it just saddens me to see how the company has been run into the ground and has overslept so many things. But I'd say Playstation family™ is probably in a comparatively good shape if they coast the months of slow PSV sales and come out strong for the shopping season.
 
I hope he can turn them around. Much of my gaming future seems to hinge on them being around and being competitive, because everyone else is running towards a direction that I despise.

I mean I'll always have PC, but playstation has too many important IPs and PSN stuff to me.
 
Crystal LED could be a big success if it is not so expensive for the consumer to buy but still makes a good profit for Sony. I can see people settling for it and not wanting to pay extra for OLED if they recognize it as a good improvement over what we have currently.
 
Good luck. I watched Sony's Keynote on Ces and i couldn't believe my eyes and ears..
A shitload of different products that do almost exactly the same things. A mess really.
 
I don't know jack about anything but if I'm Sony I would focus on recover the TV market from Samsung and LG. Just my experience, of course. But we used to have 3 Sony TV in my household, with the move to HD we now have 2 Samsung and 1 LG. And I see the same in stores everywhere.
 
Only advice I would have for Kaz is to apply KISS to the company. Keep it simple, stupid. Kill any of the bloat that is in the company and its products and focus on great products with something worthwhile to offer consumers (with ease of use).

Other than that, no idea. He's a much smarter man than I.
 
They have too many consumer products, most of which arent competitive. Kill everything but 1 flagship model of TV in the requisite sizes, PS3, and Vita. Rebuild from there.
 
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