shadowforte
09-12-2006, 04:18 PM
The dreadful confirmation that Sony is a sinking Titanic just came through: and what is surprising is that it’s not a surprise.
What both analysts and gamers alike have feared until now has finally obtained confirmation from Sony Computer Entertainment President Ken Kutaragi, who admitted that Sony’s capabilities as a manufacturer are declining.
No specification was made concerning the level of decline, but anyone can guess that a declaration from such high-ranked official would always be toned down, in order not to scare investors or the market.
When asked about the reasons that have caused PS3 to be delayed in Europe and about the recent scandal concerning Sony-produced laptop batteries that catch fire, Kaz Hirai said: “If you asked me if Sony’s strength in hardware was in decline, right now I guess I would have to say that might be true.â€Â
One situation that recently occurred at the Leipzig Game Convention in Germany could illustrate the kind of disaster Sony is facing with PS3: the first day was reserved to the press and everyone was anxious to see Sony’s praised next-gen console. But if you wanted to take a closer look, you’d only be allowed to do that from the hands of a too careful Sony representative, who would cautiously bring a black box with the PlayStation 3 inscription on it, but not before covering his hands with plastic gloves used for surgery (and I’m sure that box was NOT functional…).
The same situation seems to have already occurred in real life: we see PS3 slowly fading away, from the 2,000,000 million pieces promised for November 2006 to only a few thousands scattered in the US and Japan (400,000 and 100,000 respectively). Does a giant like Sony think it can compete with the successful Xbox 360 (which by the way is on the market for about a year) and the Xbox Live service or the up-coming Nintendo Wii with just 500,000 consoles? When it hasn’t even solved the problems linked to the powerful Cell processor or the integration of the famous Blu Ray drive?
And how does Sony imagine it will defeat the HD DVD format when PS3- designated the flagship product by Sony in the DVD-standard war- is not even a serious opponent? Microsoft has already announced that they have prepared an auxiliary HD DVD optical drive for Xbox 360 which will be available this fall for about 200 dollars. And just think that Toshiba, the main supporter of HD DVD, has released on the market for quite some time the early generation of its HD DVD players, while all Sony did this time was to postpone and postpone and postpone… Oh, and to boast with the fact that most Hollywood movie studios have backed-up Blu Ray instead of HD DVD. Well, it appears that they have backed-up an illusion, and PS3’s repeated delays should signal them that Sony has more problems than it admits…Remember the Betamax-VHS confrontation?...
My humble opinion is that Sony’s maneuvers with PlayStation 3 are already a classical example of how to shoot yourself in the foot. PS3 is only the trigger to a chain reaction that could lead not only to Sony’s titanic sinking but to an implosion that could potentially blow the company to pieces.
Sony has been struggling mightily in its fight against competitors like Samsung. Once a powerhouse in electronics, Sony now finds its market value at $43 billionâ€â€less than half of Samsung's $112 billion.
"I see a major risk that Sony's presence in the game market will weaken," cautioned Shinko Securities analyst Hideki Watanabe. "Investors will have to start considering the possibility in the future that the game division will not produce any real profits at all."
"All of this has raised concerns about whether there is something fundamentally wrong with Sony's manufacturing process," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management. "And it could further damage the Sony brand."
What do you think?
What both analysts and gamers alike have feared until now has finally obtained confirmation from Sony Computer Entertainment President Ken Kutaragi, who admitted that Sony’s capabilities as a manufacturer are declining.
No specification was made concerning the level of decline, but anyone can guess that a declaration from such high-ranked official would always be toned down, in order not to scare investors or the market.
When asked about the reasons that have caused PS3 to be delayed in Europe and about the recent scandal concerning Sony-produced laptop batteries that catch fire, Kaz Hirai said: “If you asked me if Sony’s strength in hardware was in decline, right now I guess I would have to say that might be true.â€Â
One situation that recently occurred at the Leipzig Game Convention in Germany could illustrate the kind of disaster Sony is facing with PS3: the first day was reserved to the press and everyone was anxious to see Sony’s praised next-gen console. But if you wanted to take a closer look, you’d only be allowed to do that from the hands of a too careful Sony representative, who would cautiously bring a black box with the PlayStation 3 inscription on it, but not before covering his hands with plastic gloves used for surgery (and I’m sure that box was NOT functional…).
The same situation seems to have already occurred in real life: we see PS3 slowly fading away, from the 2,000,000 million pieces promised for November 2006 to only a few thousands scattered in the US and Japan (400,000 and 100,000 respectively). Does a giant like Sony think it can compete with the successful Xbox 360 (which by the way is on the market for about a year) and the Xbox Live service or the up-coming Nintendo Wii with just 500,000 consoles? When it hasn’t even solved the problems linked to the powerful Cell processor or the integration of the famous Blu Ray drive?
And how does Sony imagine it will defeat the HD DVD format when PS3- designated the flagship product by Sony in the DVD-standard war- is not even a serious opponent? Microsoft has already announced that they have prepared an auxiliary HD DVD optical drive for Xbox 360 which will be available this fall for about 200 dollars. And just think that Toshiba, the main supporter of HD DVD, has released on the market for quite some time the early generation of its HD DVD players, while all Sony did this time was to postpone and postpone and postpone… Oh, and to boast with the fact that most Hollywood movie studios have backed-up Blu Ray instead of HD DVD. Well, it appears that they have backed-up an illusion, and PS3’s repeated delays should signal them that Sony has more problems than it admits…Remember the Betamax-VHS confrontation?...
My humble opinion is that Sony’s maneuvers with PlayStation 3 are already a classical example of how to shoot yourself in the foot. PS3 is only the trigger to a chain reaction that could lead not only to Sony’s titanic sinking but to an implosion that could potentially blow the company to pieces.
Sony has been struggling mightily in its fight against competitors like Samsung. Once a powerhouse in electronics, Sony now finds its market value at $43 billionâ€â€less than half of Samsung's $112 billion.
"I see a major risk that Sony's presence in the game market will weaken," cautioned Shinko Securities analyst Hideki Watanabe. "Investors will have to start considering the possibility in the future that the game division will not produce any real profits at all."
"All of this has raised concerns about whether there is something fundamentally wrong with Sony's manufacturing process," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management. "And it could further damage the Sony brand."
What do you think?