Friday, October 30, 2009
Another Stinker From Sony
Sony’s second quarter was another sorry one marked by the company’s fourth loss in as many quarters. Still, it was smaller than expected.
Sony’s second quarter was another sorry one marked by the company’s fourth loss in as many quarters. Still, it was smaller than expected.
So much for Xbox 360’s game console exclusivity on Netflix streaming. This morning, the DVD-by-mail pioneer said that beginning sometime next month, owners of Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles will be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix.
The PlayStation 3 price cut is a rumor no longer. Hoping to bolster sales in advance of the holiday shopping season, Sony Tuesday announced a new slimmer verison of the game console and slashed $100 off its price.
“[If the price were any lower] I’d lose money on every PlayStation I make.” So said Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer last month. And while that remark might seem to preclude a price cut on the PlayStation 3, a price cut might be exactly what we get come tomorrow.
More bad news from Sony. This morning the electronics giant posted its second straight quarterly loss and reiterated its forecast for another year of red ink. Clearly, Sony must do more than just slash jobs and suppliers if it ever hopes to regain its position in the market.
If the netbook market is a race to the bottom, then Sony is bringing up the rear. Not a year after Sony execs disparaged netbooks as undeserving of its premium brand attention, the company announced its token entry into the market: the Vaio W.
Facing back-to-back full-year net losses, Sony is taking a hatchet to its fixed costs in a yet another bid to return to profitability. The company plans to halve its roster of suppliers to 1,200, shaving a clean 20 percent off its procurement bill.
About the best thing to be said for Sony’s grotesque financial results is that they came in smaller than expected. The company’s 98.9 billion yen ($1 billion) loss for the fiscal year ended March–its first net loss in 14 years–wasn’t nearly as bad as the 150.0 billion yen ($1.57 billion) figure it had predicted in January or even close to the 173.8 billion yen ($1.8 billion) analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had been forecasting.
So those rumors of a PlayStation2 price cut? True. Rumors of a similar cut for the PlayStation 3? Not so much… Confirming recent speculation, Sony this morning said that it’s dropping the price of the PlayStation 2 from $129 to $99.99 as of April 1. But it aggressively dismissed reports of a PS3 price drop as false.
Sony doesn’t consider Apple’s iPhone a serious rival to its PlayStation Portable. This according to Sony Computer Entertainment’s Ray Maguire, who says a converged device like the iPhone will always be inferior to a dedicated gaming platform like the PSP.
Now that Sony’s old guard has taken what was once a strong electronics and gaming brand and run it into the ground, the company’s new guard is circling back to resurrect it. This morning the company announced a management overhaul that will see CEO Howard Stringer succeed Ryoji Chubachi as president and assume responsibility for Sony’s key electronics division.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Best use of the Beeker “meee” ever.
While the technology behind the Telephone is new, the design is reassuringly old-fashioned, reminiscent of a phrenologist’s horn or ear-candle in form. We found the experience far more comfortable than the one we had with the Telegraph.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!