I don't have time to find the link right now; but, if you google around a bit, you can find articles (one, I believe, from Cringely) that points out that Sony's

I don't have time to find the link right now; but, if you google around a bit, you can find articles (one, I believe, from Cringely) that points out that Sony's dominance in many areas was during an era of primarily mechanical electronics. That's a very different skill set than computer hardware / software based electronics. A skill set that, presumably, Sony never fully developed.