Sony's content platform and business strategy *spawn

[patsu]

http://www.twice.com/article/477289-Sony_Cites_Positive_Black_Friday_Performance.php

Fourteen months into his role as president and CEO of Sony Electronics, Phil Molyneux said Wednesday the company has gained significant momentum in recapturing lost consumer appreciation.

Molyneux said his chief mission since arriving has been to redirect the Sony corporate culture to focus on the consumer first, ahead of the retailer, in its go-to-market planning and strategy implementation.

The results, he said, led to a successful Black Friday holiday sales period without the company having to resort to doorbuster discount promotions.

Molyneux said Sony saw a 40 percent increase in its online call center business over the Black Friday weekend compared with a year ago, and a 21 percent increase in sales at its revamped Sony Stores.

At national accounts, Molyneux said Sony virtually across the board bettered its targeted sales goals in key categories over the four-day period. He singled out Blu-ray players for "phenomenal success."

"Based on our touch points, shop front and shareholder value, we really didn't want to go in with significant discounts," Molyneux said. "However, the results were really strong for TV and digital imaging. Vaio and our tablet have been on plan, but we did not over achieve there.

...

Upon his arrival here, Molyneux said Sony's corporate focus was stuck on meeting the retailers' needs.

"We were focused on sell-in rather than sell-out," Molyneux said. "We were an organization that made an effort to ship and forget. I had to drive a cultural change. The relationship with the retailer is important but the focus on the consumer is paramount."

[Blah]

Bolded line summarizes one of the fundamental problems for Sony and many other CE companies.

For software + hardware platforms, they have to extend the value chain all the way back to product development, and all the way forward to customer experiences and the "intangibles" (aka marketing, community, chicken soup).


That's why I mentioned it doesn't matter what Sony do, it's how they did it that failed them. e.g., I was told some Sony internal software division unit #2 implemented the Vita UI. If so, then this unit has to be responsible for the acceptance of the Vita UI as well (plus evolving it until we are satisfied). It is not good enough for them to just follow the specs and schedule.

 

[patsu]

Same article, different talking point...

Sony Ericsson to become Sony in mid-2012
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/05/sony-ericsson-to-become-sony-in-mid-2012/

Minus Ericsson, Sony to only make smartphones
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...nly-make-smartphones/articleshow/10968753.cms

"A lot of planning goes into getting the branding right but we will be done by middle of next year. It will also mean that the marketing and advertising investments will go up. We haven't been as fierce as we were a few years back but we will step it up, refocus and invest more in brand-building in select markets and India is one of those markets," Tear added.

...

 

[patsu]

This Year's Full PlayStation Awards Recipient List
http://andriasang.com/comz74/ps_awards_list/

Sony held its annual PlayStation Awards ceremony earlier today, recognizing top selling games from the year prior. As with recent installments of the event, which has been running since the first generation PlayStation was released, Sony also gave out special awards that were voted on by users.

...

Sales-based prizes included "Gold Prize" for games that sold 500,000 and up, Platinum Prize for one million and up, Double Platinum Prize for two million and up, and so-forth. This year's recipients were:

Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (Capcom, PSP): Quadruple Platinum Prize
Final Fantasy Type-0 (Square Enix, PSP): Gold Prize
Winning Eleven 2011 (Konami, PS3): Gold Prize
Gran Turismo 5 (Sony, PS3): Gold Prize
Dynasty Warriors 7 (Tecmo Koei, PS3): Gold Prize
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Version (Capcom, PS3): Gold Prize
Tales of Xillia (Namco Bandai, PS3): Gold Prize

...

The Users Choice Award, which was added last year, is awarded to the top 10 vote getters from a public vote at Sony's PlayStation Awards site. In no particular order, this year's recipients were:

Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (Capcom, PSP)
Legend of Heroes Ao no Kiseki (Falcom, PSP)
Call of Duty Black Ops (Square Enix, PS3)
Gran Turismo 5 (Sony, PS3)
Catherine (Index, PS3) [Yes !]
Dynasty Warriors 6 (Tecmo Koei, PS3)
Atelier Meruru (Gust, PS3)
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (Square Enix, PS3)
Tales of Xillia (Namco Bandai, PS3)
Dark Souls (From Software, PS3) [But of course]

This year, Sony added a World Game Award, also voted on by users at the PlayStation Awards official site. To qualify, the game had to have been developed outside of Japan. The top three vote getters received the award. Here they are in no particular order:

Call of Duty Black Ops (Square Enix, PS3)
LittleBigPlanet 2 (Sony, PS3)
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (Square Enix, PS3)

Sony also gave out a "PlayStation Store Special Award" to the five top downloaded game titles from PlayStation Store. Here's this year's pack, again in no particular order:

Dissidia Duodecim Prologus Final Fantasy (Square Enix, PSP)
Crazy Taxi (Sega, PS3)
Elemental Monster Online Card Game (PS3)
Hatsune Miku Project Diva Dreamy Theater 2nd (Sega, PS3)
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Online Edition Fight for the Future (Capcom, PS3)

Ken Kutaragi Shows Up at PlayStation Awards
http://andriasang.com/comz6y/ps_awards_2011/

Photo: http://andriasang.com/comz6y/ps_awards_2011/23ljv.jpg

 

[Nesh]

What is Ken doing these days?

 

[patsu]

Gardening ? Golf ? Cyber AI Entertainment ?

Ken Kutaragi:
http://investing.businessweek.com/r...82&previousTitle=NIPPON METAL INDUSTRY CO LTD

 

[patsu]

Sony's Kaz Hirai to step up as president as early as April
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/06/sonys-kaz-hirai-to-step-up-as-president-as-early-as-april/

Nikkei is reporting that Sony will be promoting current Executive Deputy President Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai to president as soon as April, while Howard Stringer is expected to remain chairman and CEO of the company.

As you may recall, Sony started its search for a new president as far back as November 2010, and with Kaz's two promotions last year (to Executive Deputy President in April and to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman in September), it isn't surprising that he's the chosen one to pick up some of Sir Howard's work.

 

[patsu]

Sony officially denies reports of Kazuo Hirai’s appointment as company president
http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/09/kaz-hirai-denied-presidency/

Sony has officially denied a report by respected Japanese newspaper The Nikkei claiming Kazuo Hirai was set to take over as company president.

“Certain media reports were published on January 7, 2012 (JST) regarding Sony Corporation’s executive officers’ appointments. Sony Corporation has made no announcement in this regard and nothing has been determined at this time.”

...

 

[patsu]

Sony closes and restructures two UK studios
http://www.develop-online.net/news/39460/Sony-closes-and-restructures-UK-studios

Sony is to make sweeping changes across two of its development sites in the UK, Develop understands.
The PlayStation firm has proposed the closure of Leamington Spa outfit Bigbig, which recently finished work on Little Deviants for Vita.

Meanwhile, Sony’s Cambridge division is to be restructured. The studio is to partner with Netherlands outfit Guerilla Games, likely in a downsized capacity, to build Killzone games for PlayStation Vita.

...

“..., it was felt that by focusing on other Studios that are currently working on exciting new projects, we would be in a stronger position to offer the best possible content for our consumers,” the company told Develop.

...

The closure of BigBig leaves Sony with 15 first-party studios - still the largest group of development outfits in the games industry.

 

[patsu]

Interview: Masaaki Tsuruta, Sony Computer Entertainment (CTO):
http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2011/12/maasaki-tsu-interview.cfm


Titanio runs a GAF discussion thread here, and has already picked out the highlights:

Sony outlines a long term roadmap for Playstation tech: 8K, 300fps, 3D chips and cats
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=458527


... so I'll just link to his work !

 

[patsu]

Stolen from Titanio's GAF thread...
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201202/12-018E/index.html

TOKYO, Japan – Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that Kazuo Hirai has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2012. Sir Howard Stringer, currently Chairman, CEO and President, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors in June, 2012.

Mr. Stringer recommended to the Sony Board of Directors that Mr. Hirai, currently Executive Deputy President, be his successor as President and CEO. Mr. Stringer will continue as Chairman of Sony Corporation until his ascension to the Board Chairmanship, which will become effective upon Board approval following the annual meeting of shareholders in June, when the current Chairman, Yotaro Kobayashi, will retire. Mr. Hirai is also expected to be appointed to the Board at the June shareholders meeting.

Comment from Sir Howard Stringer
“Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team. Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation ® and networked entertainment businesses. Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now.”

Comment from Kazuo Hirai
“As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position. I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees. The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses - primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains. The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.”

Comment from Yotaro Kobayashi, Chairman of the Board
“The Board is grateful to Sir Howard Stringer for all he has done to help Sony travel such a long and vital way down the road from an analogue to a digital company. He has clearly recognized the importance of connecting our tremendous products with networks and content so that our devices come fully alive in the hands of consumers. We agree with Sir Howard that Kazuo Hirai is the right man at the right time to lead Sony. He has a unique capacity to inspire people, to build teams, to make the tough decisions, and to think with clarity and foresight about the challenges we face and how to surmount them. We are also pleased that Sir Howard has accepted our request to remain with Sony after June as Chairman of the Board of Directors. His leadership and experience will be of immeasurable assistance to us all.”

 

[Nesh]

Interview: Masaaki Tsuruta, Sony Computer Entertainment (CTO):
http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2011/12/maasaki-tsu-interview.cfm


Titanio runs a GAF discussion thread here, and has already picked out the highlights:

Sony outlines a long term roadmap for Playstation tech: 8K, 300fps, 3D chips and cats
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=458527


... so I'll just link to his work !

I thought you were joking about the 8K, 300fps, 3D chips and cats.
I doubt we will ever see 300fps in games unless he meant 20-30 year old games
And 8K? Is that even necessary unless we have TVs the size of a house

Consumer technology giant Sony aims to give its next-generation gaming console an up to 10 year shelf-life, according to the CTO of its Computer Entertainment division, Maasaki Tsuruta, speaking exclusively to E&T. This is significantly longer than the market has seen historically, although the PlayStation 3 will be at least seven-years-old by the time its successor appears.

Did I understand correctly? The next PS will be released when the PS3 will be 7 years old? Considering it has been released in 2007, PS4 will arrive in 2014???

 

[patsu]

I thought you were joking about the 8K, 300fps, 3D chips and cats.
I doubt we will ever see 300fps in games unless he meant 20-30 year old games
And 8K? Is that even necessary unless we have TVs the size of a house

It's just a computing budget. You can divide the numbers say for different view points based on needs.

 

[Arwin]

Stolen from Titanio's GAF thread...
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201202/12-018E/index.html

So, the rumors were totally true then.

 

[patsu]

Kaz Hirai details his plan to save Sony
http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/2/2765928/kaz-hirai-4-point-plan

...

Re-enforcing Sony's core businesses: Hirai recognized that digital imaging and gaming are Sony's strong suits, and stated that he plans for the company to capitalize on its assets in these areas in order to strengthen its position in the growing mobile market, which will become a big focus for the company after it takes full control of the Sony Ericsson partnership. In addition, the new CEO wants to apply the advances the company has made in digital imaging to the medical industry, hopefully turning it into a future core business. He also wants to leverage Sony's gaming assets by building unique mobile products only Sony can provide.

Pulling together Sony's TV business: Hirai believes TVs will continue to be at heart of home entertainment, but LCD TVs have been commoditized and Sony can't waste any more time futzing around in this market. Sony divested of S-LCD last year and the new CEO plans to continue on this asset-light approach, being selective about the use of resources, and considering collaborations with other companies in order to reduce costs. At the same time, he believes the company can use its proprietary Crystal LED and OLED technologies to create compelling TV products.

Transforming Sony's business portfolio: Sony has diverse businesses, which has been good for the company in some ways, but it needs to figure out which of its products are becoming commoditized products without added value so that it can either get rid of them, or make better use of collaboration to reduce costs.

Accelerating Innovation: Hirai believes Sony is well-positioned to make the medical area a future core business. Sony has a lot of innovations in sensors, signal processing, lenses, and displays, and can create innovative products by applying these to endoscopy, X-Ray diagnostic equipment and ultrasound. The company was reportedly interested in acquiring a 20-30 percent stake in Olympus (although Hirai refused to comment on the proposed deal), which would be a perfect fit given its strengths in both imaging and medical equipment. The soon-to-be CEO also added that Sony needs to strengthen ties between its R&D and business groups, a movement that he is spearheading.

...

 

[jonabbey]

Oh.. yeah. Sony, the medical imaging and gaming powerhouse company.

 

[patsu]

... and insurance ! I believe they already sell some medical imaging products to the medical industry today. Saw a Blu-ray press release about it.

It's a conglomerate like others. Samsung is a ship building company, heavy industry power house too, among other things.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Oh.. yeah. Sony, the medical imaging and gaming powerhouse company.

How would you describe them before? The electronics, and movies, and music publishing powerhouse getting into games. And then photography? Their cameras aren't bad and they actually have some innovative tech going on their, and they could do some interesting/useful things like 3G connected cameras using their Sony Ericsson arm (assuming that goes through). If there's money to be made in medical imaging, don't knock it! This makes sense to me where Sony can't compete in the TV space until they get a new tech. Hirai's right - there's no point making and selling goods just for the sake of it when its losing you money, even if that's your tradition.

The main issue for Sony is software. They need far better software behind their products, with a slick "Sony Experience" that is the differentiator between TVs and stuff made out of the same parts as everyone elses' TVs and stuff. Had Hirai said, "our software is crap and we're going to turn that around and create the best software and experiences out there," then I'd be a lot more encouraged than I am now. I really don't know what's going to happen to Sony.

 

[Nesh]

Things look very hard for Sony. Kind of backs up what was suggested earlier: the successor of he PS3 might indeed come in 2014. Do they really have the legs to sustain the early life losses of a console's release in 2013?
When the company has more than $2b in loses things get pretty hard especially with the current competition! Another hard launch like the PS3's will be harder to recover from now.
PS Vita's future looks kind of doubtful too despite being a good product

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Things look very hard for Sony. Kind of backs up what was suggested earlier: the successor of he PS3 might indeed come in 2014. Do they really have the legs to sustain the early life losses of a console's release in 2013?

Or you change tack and release a lower-spec console with a shorter lifecycle, or new epxeriences, etc.

 

[Brad Grenz]

I am certain any attempt to switch to a fast upgrade cycle will simply result in a market crash. Development of big games simply takes too long. They depend on a stable user base. If everyone is on a 2 or 3 year upgrade cycle how will a developer know which of the 6 or 8 consoles their target customers will have in 4 years? App devs don't care. If your overhead is 40K on an 8 week schedule you can afford to lose out on anyone who doesn't have a iPhone 4 or better, but no one is going to invest 50-100 million dollars when you can't even predict what platforms there will be in 4 year, let alone what the installed base distribution will look like. It's untenable. The advantage of consoles is their dependable longevity, both for users and for publishers.

There's no cell contract subsidy at work here to support anything like the Apple approach, and even they are reaching diminishing returns on how much they can improve a Cell phone. iPhone upgrades were driven in part, by the limitations of the early models. There's a lot of reasons to try and get something better than a slow-ass iPhone 3G with its shitty camera, but two years from now it's hard to imagine 4S owners being all that dissatisfied with their phones. Not that this will lead to a slow in sales, Apple's potential market is still effectively every person on earth, but developers aren't going to be able to drop support for older models so quickly in the future. Anyone attempting to replicate the Apple model in the console space is going to come to a bad end, and if everyone tries to adopt it at the same time the entire industry will crash.