I don't dislike Sony, I have disdain for their almost willful failures to deliver products that capture the imagination beyond having impressive technical specs (sometimes). In my mind, the last decade has been problematic and leads to questions about their real viability and value. Here are the ones that come to mind:
* the various debacles around trying to impose content restrictions on every piece of digital content through unusable hardware/software vehicles, including the illegal rootkit scandals.
* the steady decline in build quality. I know I'm not alone in seeing Sony products fail within a year of purchase, and that was what originally drove me away from the brand.
* the obsession with incremental technical improvement as a driver for product releases. The PS3 featured advances in computing power that games developers say taking full advantage of would require title costs to go to $100 or more. The Wii, with a focus on new ways to play games and make them accessible to more people does so with low grade graphics and sound, but continues to capture way more interest than the PS3. The market didn't want more power, it wanted more playability.
* Blu-ray. Without being a jerk, I have to ask what is the point of this format? I watch HD movies all the time without a blu-ray player. They pushed so hard to win this as the standard only to see online video delivery taking off and likely to overpower physical formats in 3 or 4 years. One look at the netflix boxes coming out and you can see the tombstone for blu-ray being chiseled out already.
Sony used to ignore market research and invent new markets with new ways to make technology fit and expand people's lives. The netbook is a great example of doing so. Beyond that, it's a wasteland. If you need to point to back-lit LED as an achievement, the focus is completely off products and onto tech specs, and the market just doesn't care. They want a whole product to be excited about. What are we getting these days from Sony? Last I saw was yesterday, and that was a plan to 're-introduce the walkman'. Not much more can be said about being out of ideas.
Platform exclusive features just push me hard against the platform that releases them. I have a 360 and felt for the PS3 players getting screwed on Fallout DLC, and now it's the 360's turn. The moment a platform needs exclusivity to thrive, it's already dead to me.
Sony: Touchscreen VAIO this fall, PlayStation Network and Reader integration eventually
Jul 23rd 2009 9:21PM (Engadget)* the various debacles around trying to impose content restrictions on every piece of digital content through unusable hardware/software vehicles, including the illegal rootkit scandals.
* the steady decline in build quality. I know I'm not alone in seeing Sony products fail within a year of purchase, and that was what originally drove me away from the brand.
* the obsession with incremental technical improvement as a driver for product releases. The PS3 featured advances in computing power that games developers say taking full advantage of would require title costs to go to $100 or more. The Wii, with a focus on new ways to play games and make them accessible to more people does so with low grade graphics and sound, but continues to capture way more interest than the PS3. The market didn't want more power, it wanted more playability.
* Blu-ray. Without being a jerk, I have to ask what is the point of this format? I watch HD movies all the time without a blu-ray player. They pushed so hard to win this as the standard only to see online video delivery taking off and likely to overpower physical formats in 3 or 4 years. One look at the netflix boxes coming out and you can see the tombstone for blu-ray being chiseled out already.
Sony used to ignore market research and invent new markets with new ways to make technology fit and expand people's lives. The netbook is a great example of doing so. Beyond that, it's a wasteland. If you need to point to back-lit LED as an achievement, the focus is completely off products and onto tech specs, and the market just doesn't care. They want a whole product to be excited about. What are we getting these days from Sony? Last I saw was yesterday, and that was a plan to 're-introduce the walkman'. Not much more can be said about being out of ideas.
Sony: Touchscreen VAIO this fall, PlayStation Network and Reader integration eventually
Jul 23rd 2009 5:44PM (Engadget)Impressions: Batman: Arkham Asylum
May 29th 2009 4:48PM (Joystiq)