8 ms·

Sony sells its VAIO PC business, makes TV arm its own subsidiary

75 points by sosuke 13y ago

omnibrain 13y ago
I hope the TV subsidiary can stand on it's own feet. Losing it would be a shame because they build damn fine TVs. The only problem they have is that others advertise their features more aggresivly and customers prefer to buy some 50" candy-colour "Smart TV" for 800€ instead of a feature rich awesome display 46" Bravia for 900€.
- csmithuk 13y ago
  I thought that when I bought my Bravia EX but it's a pain in the ass. iPlayer is poorly maintained and it barely plays anything on a good day, the thing is impossibly slow for the first minute when you turn it on and it's the fussiest thing I've ever seen when it comes to media playback. The TV bit is pretty good but I didn't really buy it for that as there is literally nothing on TV in the UK. Oh and it randomly decides to inform the watchers that it's going to turns itself off even though every option in it is set to not automatically turn off. It's no Triniton to make a comparison. I've had zero experience with other smart TVs so this might be the best user experience out there -- please feel free to confirm this or not as I was thinking about getting rid of it.
  - omnibrain 13y ago
    To be honest, I can only compare it to Samsung because that's all my parents and my friends have. My GF's parents have a Sony. I found Samsungs menus and control scheme to be unbearable and the owners often struggle with it too. I usually play media directly from my PC via UPNP and that works. The built-in Youtube app is okay for the occasional video, too. Other than that I only play DVDs and Blurays and the media libraries of german TV channels (they are usually not available via built-in apps to the same extend) via a connected Rapsberry Pi. A big plus is that my TV is able to put out DD 5.1 it receives via HDMI on it's optical output. The picture qualities beats every other (LED) TV I have seen. It even came with halfway decent factory settings. Don't ask me how much time I spent trying to adjust the colours on my parents TV. But they grew to like the candy colours...
    - PhantomGremlin 13y ago
      >I found Samsungs menus and control scheme to be unbearable and the owners often struggle with it too. I have my doubts about Apple succeeding in the TV business. But maybe they will, just like in phones. Not necessarily because they're so good, but because everyone else is so bad. I still remember the remote control of my last Sony VCR. It let you record up to 8 different programs, you put them into "slots". Horrible. Quite the opposite of how TiVo does it. But the real absurdity of the Sony remote came when entering start/stop times for recording. The remote had a number pad (most remotes did, to allow changing channels). But the number pad couldn't be used to enter start/stop times. Instead you had to push up/down arrows, and IIRC separately for each "digit" of time. An utter fuster-cluck when it came to usability. So maybe Apple is the future?
  - josephlord 13y ago
    Which EX is it (particularly the second last digit that indicates the model generation)? The first ones to get iPlayer actually use the MHEG system to deliver it so it is possibly less well supported by the BBC as that version of iPlayer only used on that year's Sony TVs and for Freesat and Freeview. I have a KDL-yyxXz23 which is used the next version of iPlayer which seems to work pretty well to me. The Amazon/Lovefilm service also works pretty well. Even newer Sony's get Netflix too I believe. The Sony will wake up/turn on to the input it was turned off on so you could always supplement it with a recent internet TV box of some sort (Apple TV/Roku/Recent Sony Blu-ray/Recent Samsung Blu-ray...) whichever appeals to you. I haven't evaluated recent models or competitors recently although I did buy an LG Blu-ray player/Freeview HD HDD recorder with internet features that not only probably had privacy leaks but also the usability was pretty catestrophic. Disclaimer: I used to work in Sony TV Product Planning in Europe and did some of the business development for the internet services in Europe.
sdfjkl 13y ago
What does that leave Sony with? Game consoles, cameras, incompatible flash memory and some audio kit?
- obtino 13y ago
  There's a hell of a lot more to Sony than electronics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony#Business_units http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony#Business_units
  - sdfjkl 13y ago
    Interesting, had no idea they were in banking. As for the electronics sector I was referring to, it seems I missed semiconductors, medical and the remnants of Ericsson.
    - 72deluxe 13y ago
      Isn't the "financial services" their branch that sells you their laptops over a period of time, instead of outright banking?
    - jsumrall 13y ago
      I think Sony Mobile is pretty substantial
    - w1ntermute 13y ago
      So is Mitsubishi. It's also in insurance, and owns Kirin (a major Japanese brewer).
    - TorKlingberg 13y ago
      Sony bought Ericsson's phone business. They make nice Androids, but are not very high profile in the U.S. Certainly nowhere near the market share Ericsson had in the 90's. Much of the R&D is actually in Sweden. Ericssons network business is alive and well, actually no. 1 by market share. I worked there until recently.
  - mikeash 13y ago
pedalpete 13y ago
I thought the Tap 11 showed a ton of potential. I hope somebody else can capitalise on that. The rest of the line I found fairly ho-hum.
PhantomGremlin 13y ago
I feel sorry for Sony. They're lost. They're so lost that they don't even know they're lost. And nobody will tell them, or they just won't listen. E.g. a few years ago they bet big on 3D TV. At the time I said "huh?". It was destined to fail. Not just because many people dislike the 3D effect, there were multiple standards, there was a need for special glasses, etc. No, the real (missing) elephant in the room was content. After all, how many times can you re-watch Avatar? Have there even been 10 "good" 3D movies made to date? So what does this article end with? It says that Sony is betting big on 4K screens. Once again, the key word is "content". Just how do you get 4K content to people at home? About 10 years ago we were all sold the HDTV story. But look at what's being delivered to homes today. Extreme bit starving; an HD TV channel often uses less than 1/2 of what was envisioned. Why? Because most people don't care and so it's more profitable to deliver two or three mediocre quality programs instead of one high quality program. Those uncaring consumers will now start paying for 4K content? I don't think so! And even if they wanted it, there isn't enough available bandwidth on the cable systems. So now we need a successor to Blu-ray with even more resolution? Great, now each movie will be available in DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K Blu-Ray versions? Don't forget the collectors editions. Don't forget the inevitable re-releases (e.g. special editions), because the video quality of the first release was total crap. And without 4K content, today's TVs are already more than good enough. My TV set is capable of far better quality than what comes out of my cable. And the quality of video on demand is no better than what's OTA. Usually worse. Apparently nobody at Sony has managed to convey to top management the unexpurgated version of "this is a crock of shit, and it stinks".
- kalleboo 13y ago
  > Just how do you get 4K content to people at home? http://blog.sony.com/press/sony-launches-worlds-first-4k-ultra-hd-video-download-service-and-expands-4k-ultra-hd-tv-line/ http://blog.sony.com/press/sony-launches-worlds-first-4k-ult...
  - PhantomGremlin 13y ago
    Oh, man, that link proves my point. IMO. Doubtlessly, numerous people on this planet woke up this morning and said: "wow, this day would be great if I could see a 53-year-old movie in 4K. Because watching The Guns of Navarone in Blu-Ray just doesn't do it justice". No, I don't think that happened this morning (or any other morning). Or maybe they all said: "If only I could see Dr. Peter Venkman get slimed in 4K quality, my life would be complete. Watching Ghostbusters in Blu-Ray doesn't let me appreciate the nuances of that 29-year-old film". No, I don't think too many people said that either. I understand that Sony has to start somewhere. But there's no "killer app", or in this case "killer movie" on that list. (Though, granted, there was plenty of killing in Breaking Bad). Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies of all time, but I'm not going to buy a brand new TV set just to re-watch it in 4K. Still, if they add Forbidden Planet to that list, maybe they'd make a sale. :) This is not a mass market product. In fact IMO there's not enough of a market for this to be a profitable product. But as Dennis Miller used to end his rants: "of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong".
higherpurpose 13y ago
As the PC market declines, I expect further selling of PC divisions and mergers in the PC market over the next few years.
goldfeld 13y ago
It had been north of 5 years since I had last bought a laptop. It was a VAIO. I loved that computer as a man can love his bread-winner. Nowadays I work on an old trusty Acer (which feels close to a VAIO in finish, build quality and even style) and an old MacBook Pro (also top notch.) Well, I just got a Samsung Ativ Book 9. What crap. I'm deep in buyer's remorse. For a computer supposedly with high finish, the keyboard is completely cheap and crappy and scratchy, the screen is meh, it's oversized (despite being super thin) and just overall feels cheap, cheap, crap. Don't buy it. I could only get Fedora 19 working (not latest Ubuntu, not latest Mint, all graphic driver issues) and it was laggy as hell, my keystrokes took a half-second to materialize. Presumably the graphics driver. Gonna try Fedora 20 right now, or I'll go after driver updates or something. Don't buy this sucker. I know I won't buy Samsung again over this. Wish I would have bought a VAIO. But then they sell out.
- csmithuk 13y ago
  I've had similar experiences with everything Samsung I've used apart from their SSDs. They just don't seem to put much engineering effort into their products. Acer knock out some good machines. I miss their Timeline series. I got 12 hours out of one of them once and it was super-cheap.
- hessenwolf 13y ago
  I also loved my vaio. It was white, solid, and computed, and the keyboard was lovely. I lost it in the divorce. I exchanged it for a Samsung netbook I gave her as a present, because she was having problems with her eyesight. That said, the netbook is rock solid and very reliable. It saw me through a squalid period of sleeping on couches on top of it after drinking heavily. The keyboard is tacky crap, sure, but it types well. I also have a samsung smartphone and tv (complete coincidence that they had my favourite product in each range), and I would have a hard time knocking their engineering and reliability.
- nly 13y ago
  If it sucks so much, why not return it?
  - 13y ago
spullara 13y ago
No one can make laptops as great as Apples. It isn't because of skill though, no one else can expect to sell as many of the same model. The current MacBook Air is magic and the Retina Pros are amazing performance wise. All while retaining a great look and build quality. Hard to do that when you sell dozens of skus the way sony, dell, hp, Lenovo, etc do.
- 72deluxe 13y ago
  Very true, mainly because nobody can expect to sell as many as the same model. What always strikes me is that when you go to a PC laptop, the keyboard flexes in the middle. This is rubbish. The MacBook does not. EDIT: Why downvotes? Does your laptop flex in the middle when you press the H or G key? PC manufacturers seem to not bother with much bracing there.
  - sz4kerto 13y ago
    > Why downvotes? Because the basis of your opinion is anecdotal and seemingly you haven't used business category PC laptops. They have disadvantages compared to Macbooks (heavier, clunkier, and usually more expensive than a Macbook Pro), but many advantages as well (much-much better cooling -- I hate my rMBP because of it's constant cooling issues; much-much better warranty -- if it breaks, you can get a replacement in a few hours).
    - 72deluxe 13y ago
      Ah ok. I have used HPs in business when I was in charge of of the IT department and you did get a lot for your money but they flexed. I had some turn up bust or with duff batteries. Some also had poor fittings on the keyboards, particularly around the edges where they met the body casing. For ~£750 laptop this was poor. This was the ProBook line, in addition to other lines. And the screens were dreadful, with washed out colours. The Sonys we had in were better but I had some blow up. The Toshibas were alright but again, flexing.
      - sz4kerto 13y ago
be5invis 13y ago
I wish that Sony publish all the Vaio engineering diagrams before its death. I don't want this spirit disappear.
josephlord 13y ago
The trouble is there is almost no profit at all in TV's these days (and for most of the last decade too). It is too prestigious and therefore competitive as there is still the impression that it is the key part of becoming a major consumer electronics player (I think it is probably wrong these days and mobile phone/tablets may be more important). Differentiation of TVs is hard because features appeal to niche's of the total market and basic picture quality is now good on most products and MOST people can't recognise a good picture if they see it. Sony has also suffered badly along with Panasonic from the strength of the Yen. A great deal of the cost base is still in Japan even when manufacture is outsourced into local markets which destroys any real possibilities of profit. I don't know what the effect of making the TV arm it's own subsidiary will be, (it may be mostly to allow profits to be shown in the rest of electronics), but I really don't know what the best thing to do with it would be. I'm not sure it makes commercial sense to make TV's in its own terms but it is doubtful whether Sony could sustain franchised retail chains without TVs so it may affect the total business if they withdrew completely. It would also be a shame as the products are good and there are many good people there but I just can't see a future of long term profitability. Ex Sony TV Product Planner/Biz Dev (Europe)
- PhantomGremlin 13y ago
  The real problem is that an LCD TV isn't something that breaks very often. Nor does it really need adjustment, like the old CRTs frequently did. Sony marketing made 3D a big thing in 2010: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB126281921528818651 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB126281921528818651 Sony Pins Future on a 3-D Revival Jan. 7, 2010 But I had just bought a big screen Sony XBR6 the year before. That TV is still my primary TV, still working fine. I might replace it in another 5 years, "just because". But until then, there had better be a really compelling "breakthrough" for me to justify buying another TV. And, IMO, 3D wasn't it. And 4K isn't it, either, for reasons I already outlined. Most households got rid of their CRTs a long time ago. So the long-time scenario of moving the old TV to the basement doesn't work anymore, because the basement already has an LCD, and that LCD still works great. I agree with you, there's just no future of long term profitability in TVs anymore.
gesman 13y ago
High end Sony Vaio are the best laptops the money can buy. When I custom ordered one from them - they notified me about every step from the beginning of manufacturing to the movements between facilities to detailed cross ocean shipping. It is Made in Japan. Every time I use this Laptop (one of Z-models, gold colored) it's a joy. I think instead of trying to compete for made-in-china junk buyer's attention - they should of elevate their Z-line to fashion statement for very high end, demanding users.
- gesman 13y ago
  Oh, and when ordering - they also allows you to select (at no charge) the "fresh start" option. Fresh start means - absolutely no preload with bloatware crap. Just bare OS with couple Sony utils.

75 points by sosuke 13y ago

I hope the TV subsidiary can stand on it's own feet. Losing it would be a shame because they build damn fine TVs. The only problem they have is that others advertise their features more aggresivly and customers prefer to buy some 50" candy-colour "Smart TV" for 800€ instead of a feature rich awesome display 46" Bravia for 900€.

csmithuk 13y ago
I thought that when I bought my Bravia EX but it's a pain in the ass. iPlayer is poorly maintained and it barely plays anything on a good day, the thing is impossibly slow for the first minute when you turn it on and it's the fussiest thing I've ever seen when it comes to media playback. The TV bit is pretty good but I didn't really buy it for that as there is literally nothing on TV in the UK. Oh and it randomly decides to inform the watchers that it's going to turns itself off even though every option in it is set to not automatically turn off. It's no Triniton to make a comparison. I've had zero experience with other smart TVs so this might be the best user experience out there -- please feel free to confirm this or not as I was thinking about getting rid of it.
- omnibrain 13y ago
  To be honest, I can only compare it to Samsung because that's all my parents and my friends have. My GF's parents have a Sony. I found Samsungs menus and control scheme to be unbearable and the owners often struggle with it too. I usually play media directly from my PC via UPNP and that works. The built-in Youtube app is okay for the occasional video, too. Other than that I only play DVDs and Blurays and the media libraries of german TV channels (they are usually not available via built-in apps to the same extend) via a connected Rapsberry Pi. A big plus is that my TV is able to put out DD 5.1 it receives via HDMI on it's optical output. The picture qualities beats every other (LED) TV I have seen. It even came with halfway decent factory settings. Don't ask me how much time I spent trying to adjust the colours on my parents TV. But they grew to like the candy colours...
  - PhantomGremlin 13y ago
    >I found Samsungs menus and control scheme to be unbearable and the owners often struggle with it too. I have my doubts about Apple succeeding in the TV business. But maybe they will, just like in phones. Not necessarily because they're so good, but because everyone else is so bad. I still remember the remote control of my last Sony VCR. It let you record up to 8 different programs, you put them into "slots". Horrible. Quite the opposite of how TiVo does it. But the real absurdity of the Sony remote came when entering start/stop times for recording. The remote had a number pad (most remotes did, to allow changing channels). But the number pad couldn't be used to enter start/stop times. Instead you had to push up/down arrows, and IIRC separately for each "digit" of time. An utter fuster-cluck when it came to usability. So maybe Apple is the future?
- josephlord 13y ago
  Which EX is it (particularly the second last digit that indicates the model generation)? The first ones to get iPlayer actually use the MHEG system to deliver it so it is possibly less well supported by the BBC as that version of iPlayer only used on that year's Sony TVs and for Freesat and Freeview. I have a KDL-yyxXz23 which is used the next version of iPlayer which seems to work pretty well to me. The Amazon/Lovefilm service also works pretty well. Even newer Sony's get Netflix too I believe. The Sony will wake up/turn on to the input it was turned off on so you could always supplement it with a recent internet TV box of some sort (Apple TV/Roku/Recent Sony Blu-ray/Recent Samsung Blu-ray...) whichever appeals to you. I haven't evaluated recent models or competitors recently although I did buy an LG Blu-ray player/Freeview HD HDD recorder with internet features that not only probably had privacy leaks but also the usability was pretty catestrophic. Disclaimer: I used to work in Sony TV Product Planning in Europe and did some of the business development for the internet services in Europe.

sdfjkl 13y ago

What does that leave Sony with? Game consoles, cameras, incompatible flash memory and some audio kit?

obtino 13y ago
There's a hell of a lot more to Sony than electronics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony#Business_units http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony#Business_units
- sdfjkl 13y ago
  Interesting, had no idea they were in banking. As for the electronics sector I was referring to, it seems I missed semiconductors, medical and the remnants of Ericsson.
  - 72deluxe 13y ago
    Isn't the "financial services" their branch that sells you their laptops over a period of time, instead of outright banking?
  - jsumrall 13y ago
    I think Sony Mobile is pretty substantial
  - w1ntermute 13y ago
    So is Mitsubishi. It's also in insurance, and owns Kirin (a major Japanese brewer).
  - TorKlingberg 13y ago
    Sony bought Ericsson's phone business. They make nice Androids, but are not very high profile in the U.S. Certainly nowhere near the market share Ericsson had in the 90's. Much of the R&D is actually in Sweden. Ericssons network business is alive and well, actually no. 1 by market share. I worked there until recently.
- mikeash 13y ago

pedalpete 13y ago

I thought the Tap 11 showed a ton of potential. I hope somebody else can capitalise on that. The rest of the line I found fairly ho-hum.

PhantomGremlin 13y ago

I feel sorry for Sony. They're lost. They're so lost that they don't even know they're lost. And nobody will tell them, or they just won't listen. E.g. a few years ago they bet big on 3D TV. At the time I said "huh?". It was destined to fail. Not just because many people dislike the 3D effect, there were multiple standards, there was a need for special glasses, etc. No, the real (missing) elephant in the room was content. After all, how many times can you re-watch Avatar? Have there even been 10 "good" 3D movies made to date? So what does this article end with? It says that Sony is betting big on 4K screens. Once again, the key word is "content". Just how do you get 4K content to people at home? About 10 years ago we were all sold the HDTV story. But look at what's being delivered to homes today. Extreme bit starving; an HD TV channel often uses less than 1/2 of what was envisioned. Why? Because most people don't care and so it's more profitable to deliver two or three mediocre quality programs instead of one high quality program. Those uncaring consumers will now start paying for 4K content? I don't think so! And even if they wanted it, there isn't enough available bandwidth on the cable systems. So now we need a successor to Blu-ray with even more resolution? Great, now each movie will be available in DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K Blu-Ray versions? Don't forget the collectors editions. Don't forget the inevitable re-releases (e.g. special editions), because the video quality of the first release was total crap. And without 4K content, today's TVs are already more than good enough. My TV set is capable of far better quality than what comes out of my cable. And the quality of video on demand is no better than what's OTA. Usually worse. Apparently nobody at Sony has managed to convey to top management the unexpurgated version of "this is a crock of shit, and it stinks".

kalleboo 13y ago
> Just how do you get 4K content to people at home? http://blog.sony.com/press/sony-launches-worlds-first-4k-ultra-hd-video-download-service-and-expands-4k-ultra-hd-tv-line/ http://blog.sony.com/press/sony-launches-worlds-first-4k-ult...
- PhantomGremlin 13y ago
  Oh, man, that link proves my point. IMO. Doubtlessly, numerous people on this planet woke up this morning and said: "wow, this day would be great if I could see a 53-year-old movie in 4K. Because watching The Guns of Navarone in Blu-Ray just doesn't do it justice". No, I don't think that happened this morning (or any other morning). Or maybe they all said: "If only I could see Dr. Peter Venkman get slimed in 4K quality, my life would be complete. Watching Ghostbusters in Blu-Ray doesn't let me appreciate the nuances of that 29-year-old film". No, I don't think too many people said that either. I understand that Sony has to start somewhere. But there's no "killer app", or in this case "killer movie" on that list. (Though, granted, there was plenty of killing in Breaking Bad). Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies of all time, but I'm not going to buy a brand new TV set just to re-watch it in 4K. Still, if they add Forbidden Planet to that list, maybe they'd make a sale. :) This is not a mass market product. In fact IMO there's not enough of a market for this to be a profitable product. But as Dennis Miller used to end his rants: "of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong".

higherpurpose 13y ago

As the PC market declines, I expect further selling of PC divisions and mergers in the PC market over the next few years.

goldfeld 13y ago

It had been north of 5 years since I had last bought a laptop. It was a VAIO. I loved that computer as a man can love his bread-winner. Nowadays I work on an old trusty Acer (which feels close to a VAIO in finish, build quality and even style) and an old MacBook Pro (also top notch.) Well, I just got a Samsung Ativ Book 9. What crap. I'm deep in buyer's remorse. For a computer supposedly with high finish, the keyboard is completely cheap and crappy and scratchy, the screen is meh, it's oversized (despite being super thin) and just overall feels cheap, cheap, crap. Don't buy it. I could only get Fedora 19 working (not latest Ubuntu, not latest Mint, all graphic driver issues) and it was laggy as hell, my keystrokes took a half-second to materialize. Presumably the graphics driver. Gonna try Fedora 20 right now, or I'll go after driver updates or something. Don't buy this sucker. I know I won't buy Samsung again over this. Wish I would have bought a VAIO. But then they sell out.

csmithuk 13y ago
I've had similar experiences with everything Samsung I've used apart from their SSDs. They just don't seem to put much engineering effort into their products. Acer knock out some good machines. I miss their Timeline series. I got 12 hours out of one of them once and it was super-cheap.
hessenwolf 13y ago
I also loved my vaio. It was white, solid, and computed, and the keyboard was lovely. I lost it in the divorce. I exchanged it for a Samsung netbook I gave her as a present, because she was having problems with her eyesight. That said, the netbook is rock solid and very reliable. It saw me through a squalid period of sleeping on couches on top of it after drinking heavily. The keyboard is tacky crap, sure, but it types well. I also have a samsung smartphone and tv (complete coincidence that they had my favourite product in each range), and I would have a hard time knocking their engineering and reliability.
nly 13y ago
If it sucks so much, why not return it?
- 13y ago

spullara 13y ago

No one can make laptops as great as Apples. It isn't because of skill though, no one else can expect to sell as many of the same model. The current MacBook Air is magic and the Retina Pros are amazing performance wise. All while retaining a great look and build quality. Hard to do that when you sell dozens of skus the way sony, dell, hp, Lenovo, etc do.

72deluxe 13y ago
Very true, mainly because nobody can expect to sell as many as the same model. What always strikes me is that when you go to a PC laptop, the keyboard flexes in the middle. This is rubbish. The MacBook does not. EDIT: Why downvotes? Does your laptop flex in the middle when you press the H or G key? PC manufacturers seem to not bother with much bracing there.
- sz4kerto 13y ago
  > Why downvotes? Because the basis of your opinion is anecdotal and seemingly you haven't used business category PC laptops. They have disadvantages compared to Macbooks (heavier, clunkier, and usually more expensive than a Macbook Pro), but many advantages as well (much-much better cooling -- I hate my rMBP because of it's constant cooling issues; much-much better warranty -- if it breaks, you can get a replacement in a few hours).
  - 72deluxe 13y ago
    Ah ok. I have used HPs in business when I was in charge of of the IT department and you did get a lot for your money but they flexed. I had some turn up bust or with duff batteries. Some also had poor fittings on the keyboards, particularly around the edges where they met the body casing. For ~£750 laptop this was poor. This was the ProBook line, in addition to other lines. And the screens were dreadful, with washed out colours. The Sonys we had in were better but I had some blow up. The Toshibas were alright but again, flexing.
    - sz4kerto 13y ago

be5invis 13y ago

I wish that Sony publish all the Vaio engineering diagrams before its death. I don't want this spirit disappear.

josephlord 13y ago

The trouble is there is almost no profit at all in TV's these days (and for most of the last decade too). It is too prestigious and therefore competitive as there is still the impression that it is the key part of becoming a major consumer electronics player (I think it is probably wrong these days and mobile phone/tablets may be more important). Differentiation of TVs is hard because features appeal to niche's of the total market and basic picture quality is now good on most products and MOST people can't recognise a good picture if they see it. Sony has also suffered badly along with Panasonic from the strength of the Yen. A great deal of the cost base is still in Japan even when manufacture is outsourced into local markets which destroys any real possibilities of profit. I don't know what the effect of making the TV arm it's own subsidiary will be, (it may be mostly to allow profits to be shown in the rest of electronics), but I really don't know what the best thing to do with it would be. I'm not sure it makes commercial sense to make TV's in its own terms but it is doubtful whether Sony could sustain franchised retail chains without TVs so it may affect the total business if they withdrew completely. It would also be a shame as the products are good and there are many good people there but I just can't see a future of long term profitability. Ex Sony TV Product Planner/Biz Dev (Europe)

PhantomGremlin 13y ago
The real problem is that an LCD TV isn't something that breaks very often. Nor does it really need adjustment, like the old CRTs frequently did. Sony marketing made 3D a big thing in 2010: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB126281921528818651 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB126281921528818651 Sony Pins Future on a 3-D Revival Jan. 7, 2010 But I had just bought a big screen Sony XBR6 the year before. That TV is still my primary TV, still working fine. I might replace it in another 5 years, "just because". But until then, there had better be a really compelling "breakthrough" for me to justify buying another TV. And, IMO, 3D wasn't it. And 4K isn't it, either, for reasons I already outlined. Most households got rid of their CRTs a long time ago. So the long-time scenario of moving the old TV to the basement doesn't work anymore, because the basement already has an LCD, and that LCD still works great. I agree with you, there's just no future of long term profitability in TVs anymore.

gesman 13y ago

High end Sony Vaio are the best laptops the money can buy. When I custom ordered one from them - they notified me about every step from the beginning of manufacturing to the movements between facilities to detailed cross ocean shipping. It is Made in Japan. Every time I use this Laptop (one of Z-models, gold colored) it's a joy. I think instead of trying to compete for made-in-china junk buyer's attention - they should of elevate their Z-line to fashion statement for very high end, demanding users.

gesman 13y ago
Oh, and when ordering - they also allows you to select (at no charge) the "fresh start" option. Fresh start means - absolutely no preload with bloatware crap. Just bare OS with couple Sony utils.