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[EdReedFan20]

Oh and now people are trying to push 4K TVs and 4K blu-ray onto consumers, I wonder how many people would actually fall for it? Regular blu-ray is hardly selling, and now people are suddenly expected to upgrade their TV and blu-ray player again? I don't know how much is at stake in this department, but Sony's plans for blu-ray definitely failed to live up to DVDs.

It always seemed to me that Blu-Rays sold well (in relation to DVD's). It's streaming/digital that seems to be in the lead and that makes me sort of sad, because I love the AV quality of physical media (I do believe streaming is making strides here, though). I also love BTS extras, but thankfully it's looking like iTunes is really doing good stuff with their iTunes Extras. Captain America 2 on iTunes, for instance, has all of the features of my Blu-Ray copy. The only thing it doesn't offer is the 3D version (I don't think iTunes does 3D currently).

As for 4K, Sony (being one of the main Blu-Ray proponents/founders) and Microsoft should have seen that Blu-Ray 4K coming very soon (It was officially announced a few weeks ago http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-blu-ray-discs-arriving-in-2015-to-fight-streaming-media/). I wonder if there is a chance that they actually each somehow made PS4/XB1 able to play these discs. That would be a pleasant surprise. Believe it or not, 4K TVs are expected to be quite affordable within the next few years or so (Perhaps at a price of sub-$1000). I read that 4K might just become ubiquitous, as in every HDTV would be 4K (and maybe 3D). To me, it seems the prices of these 4K TVs are going to drop much quicker than HDTVs (and 3D HDTVs) ever did. Although 4K might seem like the future, Sharp is currently working on an 8K TV (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413918,00.asp).

 

[CadetMahoney]

The clock is ticking, Mr. Hirai.

If we continue to see more losses in 2015 and 2016. . .

Ouch. My thoughts exactly.

His departure won't be surprising by that time though. Be weird since PS4 will still be dominating over it's rivals, but obviously that market alone won't save Sony as a whole.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Oh and now people are trying to push 4K TVs and 4K blu-ray onto consumers, I wonder how many people would actually fall for it? Regular blu-ray is hardly selling, and now people are suddenly expected to upgrade their TV and blu-ray player again?

Plus ppl can't be bothered trying to get happy for upscaled games at 4K since even the best gaming PC's can't do AAA 60+fps native res at that so what hope for mass manufactured consoles with tight budgets?

As for blu-ray. If they release a blu-ray protocol standard that also allows 1080p at 60fps, plus all films and social media devices (phones, webcams etc.) join the 60fps party than I can see ppl picking up the next blu-ray standard without having to also upgrade their tv's.

But that would make too much sense and they're greedy wanting everyone to spend silly amounts on a new TV too.

 

[Drek]

Timing. It always comes down to timing and foresight.

Marvel was not the hot property it is today a decade ago. It basically had two successful franchises (X-Men and Spiderman). Iron Man in 2008 changed their fortunes completely. Sony was not in a position to buy them at that point.

FYI, Sony was very aggressive in trying to buy Marvel quite a while back, well before Iron Man et al made them the hot commodity that they are now. For a while there it looked like a foregone conclusion, but the deal never got struck. Then Disney swooped in and grabbed them.

What does Sony have at this point? Insurance, Playstation, Mobile and whatelse?

One of the largest catalogs of music rights in the world. A laundry list of television and film intellectual property rights comparable to most any studio not named Disney (Sony Pictures was, for a period, incredibly aggressive in IP acquisition). A healthy stable of video game IPs currently. The Playstation brand which still has legitimate clout. A stable and profitable insurance division. A few additional stable and profitable tech divisions that could be left to their own devices or spun off for instant cash to competitors.

They have serious appeal to anyone who wants a broad stable of their own intellectual properties. That only goes up the more fat Kaz chops off from the consumer electronics division.

 

[zomgbbqftw]

Sony US market share for smartphones - 0.2%, joke of a company.

 

[Scum]

Sony US market share for smartphones - 0.2%, joke of a company.

D:

How long 'til Kaz is "ejected", zomg?

 

[CadetMahoney]

Sony US market share for smartphones - 0.2%, joke of a company.

Really? Ron_Simmons_Daaamn.gif

Puts into perspective the ppl saying how great their smartphones are, but with only that amount of marketshare I don't know if it matters. I assumed they had a shoe-in-the-door at least.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Is there a reason they refuse to properly address the US mobile market?

 

[Kill3r7]

FYI, Sony was very aggressive in trying to buy Marvel quite a while back, well before Iron Man et al made them the hot commodity that they are now. For a while there it looked like a foregone conclusion, but the deal never got struck. Then Disney swooped in and grabbed them.

Obviously they didn't try hard enough.

 

[zomgbbqftw]

Is there a reason they refuse to properly address the US mobile market?

Stupidity.

From a good source at Sony I have it that AT&T were willing to take the Z3 at near launch (early November) with T-Mobile (beginning October) and VZW (end October), but they wanted a special colour and to offer the option of 16GB and 32GB for $199/$249 with a two year deal. They were close to signing a deal when Japanese level management stepped in and said they felt it would be confusing for consumers (ignoring that Apple and Samsung do it quite successfully) and that they couldn't run a different production lines for 16GB/32GB variants of Black, White and the special colour that AT&T requested (metallic gold back with a white front iirc) without reducing the margin so the counter offer was 32GB and black, the same as what T-Mobile is getting with Copper at a later date with 32GB. AT&T declined.

If I was a senior manager at Sony I would basically be doing whatever it takes to get on three of the four major networks and then get the fourth as quickly as possible after that, then roll out lower priced devices on those networks afterwards once my central offering is proved successful and the brand was built out. I would also be pushing devices like the E3 and T3 on Boost mobile and local carriers as pre-paid with $149 and $249 prices, again to get the brand name out there among the local population who don't realise that Sony make smartphones. Finally I would have priced the Z3 Tablet Compact to sell at $269 and had a massive advertising campaign for it and the Z3 with celebrity endorsements and huge TV presence with adverts that make it very obvious what the phones are good at (battery, battery, battery) leveraging brands like Walkman, Cyber-shot and PlayStation which are already familiar to US comsumers.

If an outsider like me without all of the information can see it then I do wonder what goes on at SMC, the management is just absolutely fucking awful from what I have heard about them.

Obviously they didn't try hard enough.

Artistic conflict with Avi Arad who is very big at SPE. If Sony had dumped Arad like Marvel wanted they would own it.

 

[DoktorEvil]

Really? Ron_Simmons_Daaamn.gif

Puts into perspective the ppl saying how great their smartphones are, but with only that amount of marketshare I don't know if it matters. I assumed they had a shoe-in-the-door at least.

You'd think that with 28 handsets!

http://www.sonymobile.com/us/products/phones/

They are wasting resources in mobile. It would be prudent to sell off the business and patents to another big smartphone manufacturer and let those guys duke it out. Sony can't always be in EVERY consumer electronic space, nor should they try to be.

 

[slit]

I tried to stay quite but you guys are just trolling. Kaz isn't going anywhere. He'll save the company; just you wait and see.

I admit I don't know much about finances and numbers (for the people that demand I be a financial analyst to have an opinion) but I do know how to believe in a brand with the history and dignity of Sony. That's something to be proud of. I wish I could take a little piece of me and put into all your hearts

Spoiler

(oh god I know it sounds corny but please don't mock me... this is difficult enough to type)

to make you all remember how Sony has made your life better. Doctors say that there's actually a healing attribute of being positive and I want to believe that can apply to a corporation as well.

For a place that's so quick to call out corporation being gross with numbers instead of caring for its consumers, why don't we stop being so affected by these numbers and show a little love. I'm not suggesting people go out and do anything they can't afford but If you like what Sony's done for gaming then go out and buy their product and show your support.

#savegreatness

Kaz is continuing to send this company into a downward spiral. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll make peace with yourself. Now go out and do something fun instead of obsessing on Sony. They don't love you or care about you. They don't even know you exist.

 

[reKon]

Stupidity.

From a good source at Sony I have it that AT&T were willing to take the Z3 at near launch (early November) with T-Mobile (beginning October) and VZW (end October), but they wanted a special colour and to offer the option of 16GB and 32GB for $199/$249 with a two year deal. They were close to signing a deal when Japanese level management stepped in and said they felt it would be confusing for consumers (ignoring that Apple and Samsung do it quite successfully) and that they couldn't run a different production lines for 16GB/32GB variants of Black, White and the special colour that AT&T requested (metallic gold back with a white front iirc) without reducing the margin so the counter offer was 32GB and black, the same as what T-Mobile is getting with Copper at a later date with 32GB. AT&T declined.

If I was a senior manager at Sony I would basically be doing whatever it takes to get on three of the four major networks and then get the fourth as quickly as possible after that, then roll out lower priced devices on those networks afterwards once my central offering is proved successful and the brand was built out. I would also be pushing devices like the E3 and T3 on Boost mobile and local carriers as pre-paid with $149 and $249 prices, again to get the brand name out there among the local population who don't realise that Sony make smartphones. Finally I would have priced the Z3 Tablet Compact to sell at $269 and had a massive advertising campaign for it and the Z3 with celebrity endorsements and huge TV presence with adverts that make it very obvious what the phones are good at (battery, battery, battery) leveraging brands like Walkman, Cyber-shot and PlayStation which are already familiar to US comsumers.

If an outsider like me without all of the information can see it then I do wonder what goes on at SMC, the management is just absolutely fucking awful from what I have heard about them.



Artistic conflict with Avi Arad who is very big at SPE. If Sony had dumped Arad like Marvel wanted they would own it.

No way, lmao...

You know I recognize that Sony has created something great in the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact and I am planning importing the Z3 Compact for 500 USD, new.

With the large Goodwill write of and all, it tells me that they don't see themselves as serious competitor in the mobile market in the future. I don't know if they are just being conservative now with this write-off until they execute their strategy and adjust from there, but what I'm concerned about is support for my phone down the road if worse comes to worse and they pull out completely.

The stupid thing about all this is that they actually do have an amazing product that's easier to use than some of the other Android phones and more feature packed in it's overall hardware. It's pretty clear here that their management is still terrible and needs more work.

Do you guys remember this article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/what-is-sony-now-11172011.html

 

[Calamari41]

There was a press release that they sold in 500 million so I figured if I rounded up to the nearest billion but dropped two zeros which must have been significant figures, it would still be accurate. After all, the news was reported in billion figures so I wanted to keep the messaging clear and simple to avoid any confusions. Sorry for the confusion.

It is definitely acceptable in GAAP to round your numbers in such a way that they literally double.

Here's a rough analysis I did some time ago: http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=114053029&postcount=246

To sum up, Sony probably made a little money from ASM2. A buyout for the franchise could be attractive to them. The current rumors are that they are entering some kind of joint production agreement with Marvel/Disney.

Thank you for posting some real numbers. It's even worse than I was assuming a couple of pages ago. It really would be prudent for Sony to start looking at this seriously. If they could get 10x profit for the rights, that would cover at least 15 years of Spider-Man films. Having that all up front would be a huge boon to Sony, and Disney would likely make the money back in no time.

Disney will not share, though. It will either be an outright purchase or nothing. They are happy enough with the merchandising money and their unfaltering hit-making machine in Marvel Studios. Disney doesn't need Spider-Man, but it could get to the point where Sony needs the money from a Spider-Man sale.