Stringers background is in media so it's natural for him to understand that side of the business. What is worrying is the total disconnect that seems to be apparent between him and SCEI. There are too many things that have happened for it to seem mere coincidence. Maybe he has just left Ken (or is it Hirai now?) to do as he pleases but maybe a better thing to do would be to keep tabs on the division to make sure they are kept in in check.
I think there's two big things that play into this, to sort of 'allow for' his disconnect.
Firstly, when he was made CEO there was a lot of behind the scenes action that almost led to Kutaragi's departure, as Kutaragi felt, well... that the better man didn't win so to speak. Stringer supposedly worked hard to retain Kutaragi and give him assurances that his hand/vision wouldn't be stayed, and Kutaragi himself reports directly to Stringer outside of the normal chain of command. So... in that sense Stringer has every reason to be informed, but by the same token probably feels comfortable being 'hands off' to an extent.
Secondly, I think if we look back to the single most controversial inclusion in the PS3, it's Blu-ray. This is something that had a beleaguered development, and
was supposed to be ready quite some time ago. So you have this whole price/time related issue stemming directly from the Blu-ray inclusion, but as time goes on, it only becomes *more* important for the success of BD rather than less.
I personally think there's a sense out there that if someone 'higher up' had been more hands on, that perhaps the price of the console would be lower, or they wouldn't have done Blu-ray. But I think it's almost the opposite. Stringer himself may be the one that, not being overly used to or familiar with the subsidization model, is hesitant to launch at a lower price with PS3, seeing the direct corelation between units sold and red ink. Secondly, this is a guy that's definitely going to be all about pushing Blu-ray. The console division is an important one, but Sony is increasing it's margins and getting it's act together quite rapidly in their other sectors; Playstation is probably viewed as a division that can be asked to make some sacrifice this gen to further Sony's goals in the - likely perceived as more important - format war.
A lot of what plays out this gen with Playstation will come down to the efforts of the Sony Worldwide Studios; I think more than in past gens, they'll be the ones that either come up with the killer apps that spur outside development progress as well, or, they won't...
