Entertainment Content Network for Sony’s Future

Ultralow power, glassless 3D TV sets that double today's resolution are on Sony's agenda for 2013.

In the late 90s I recall my father buying the brand-new Sony Trinitron TV and enthusiastically showing it off to guests. Almost everyone though would stop and ask him why didn’t he buy a flat-screen Samsung. With a solemn tone he would always answer ‘this is a Sony‘.

Masaru Ibuka (left) and Akio Morita (right) in an arm wrestling challenge. Ibuka defined Sony as 'a stable workplace where engineers could work to their hearts' content in full consciousness of their joy in technology and their social obligation'.

For his generation Sony was and still is a symbol of quality, innovation and high-tech. If Sony clung to its Trinitron TV while others were making flat screens, for him it was because flat screens hadn’t been tested enough. Innovation could not start until Sony’s excellent engineers said so, the rest were just not as reliable.

Unfortunately for Sony though only other few affectionate consumers took my father’s stance. In the following decade Samsung and Sharp would dominate the TV market while the Japanese giant would be losing billions of dollars every year.

Nintendo's motion sensing Wii games still outsell Sony's Playstation 3 console.

Soon the company would lose ground in the gaming industry as well. The much anticipated PlayStation 3 game console, launched in 2006, although priced $100 higher than Microsoft’s Xbox, lost from $240 to $307 for each unit sold. This drove the games division into the red for $2 billion. This ended Kutaragi’s era in the games division and decisions to better incorporate the PlayStation division with the rest of the company were taken.

Sony's current President, Sir Howard Stringer, in a press conference presenting Sony's ebook reader, a market long neglected by Sony.

Adding to these the inability to emerge in the market of smartphones made for Sony’s very dim prospects in 2006 when Sir Howard Stringer was appointed President. Since his first day in office Stringer made it clear that the company would focus on software and content.

The first thing Stringer did once appointed President at the company was launch several cocktail parties to stimulate cooperation between software divisions

So divided was Sony when Stringer came in that there were software developers working on different product lines who knew nothing about each other’s projects. To stimulate cooperation he threw several cocktail parties where software developers could exchange ideas and contacts. In addition Stringer managed to save billions of dollars in job cuts and plant closings making for the very profitable year 2008 ($+5 billion).

Sir Howard Stringer and Ericsson's Hans Vestberg after concluding the €10 bn deal in London last October.

Today the company is more consolidated and competitive. It also has a long-term strategy which incorporates all the company’s assets, the Sony Entertainment Network. The purchase of Ericsson’s share of the handset venture in October gives the company full control of its assets in consumer electronics making it easier to center them around the planned cloud platform. The Entertainment Network will take advantage of Sony’s large portfolio of music, movies and games and allow its users access the content from their TVs, smartphones and PCs at the same time.

A company that has underdelivered in the past decade, under Stringer’s leadership Sony’s future appears to be brighter than ever.

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