| Print Page | Adjust Font Size:

Free Home Theater Review Weekly Newsletter.

Enter your e-mail below to get Home Theater Review's weekly newsletter with the latest equipment reviews and home theater news sent directly to your inbox.


*Required
Sony_Logo.gif

Sony reported their first annual loss in 14 years today; however the company beat their estimate as to how deep the loss would be. For the past year or so Sony has been slashing jobs, offering early retirements and closing factories as it deals with numerous pressing business issues. Nintendo has stolen precious market share with its Wii game machine over Sony's highly profitable Playstation 3. Apple's iPhone, despite only working on America's weakest network in AT&T, is dominant over any Sony phone currently on the marketplace today. While Blu-ray sales are strong, low-cost players like Vizio and Korean super-company Samsung, have eaten up much of Sony's dominance in the television market.

Sony is not alone in its troubles and unlike many American companies - for instance General Motors - Sony's products are still top-notch when you look at them across the board. Unlike other AV companies in the specialty side of the business, Sony has upper echelon engineers that can out-design and out-think any other company when it comes to hot new consumer electronics. If Sony wants to, they can build nearly any product better and often cheaper than the competition. This was proven by the Qualia project, which Sony built as reference products to lead the Sony line. Qualia products like the 004 projector, led a game-changing product line that addressed both performance and affordability. That was pure Sony. Why they stopped with Qualia I don't think I will ever understand.

Sony's problems are more market driven than product driven. Imagine a world where everyone's home isn't worth 40 percent of what it used to be 18 months ago. Couple that with 6.5 percent unemployment versus 8.5 percent, and watch Sony bounce back - especially if they market their way out of their hole. Low cost players sell on one thing only - price. Sony means more to companies than price. Sony means quality, innovation, ease of use and future-minded technologies and consumers know it. Sony simply needs to get back to that message, and they will be fine.

Keywords

Sony, Sony posts first annual loss in 14 years, Sony BRAVIA, Sony Qualia, Sony Qualia 004,

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Subscribe to HomeTheaterReview.com's Weekly Newsletter to get the latest news, reviews and insight on the world of home theater, HDTV and audiophile equipment. Subscription is 100% FREE!
*Required
Email Marketing by VerticalResponse
subscribe to rss Subscribe with RSS
Follow home theater equipment reviews and daily news via our RSS feed.
Related Industry Trade News:
  • Comment on this article

    5
  • By phil

Sony is responsible for his own demise.
Here are the reasons:
1) taking production to China killed the quality control for the products...product failure was
over 30% when Sony went from Japanese workers to Chinese workers.
2) Sony changed name every 6 months from a great selling name Trinitron to 3 or 4 other
made up names in no ones language. ...confusing the customer.
3) They closed US mfg in Rancho Bernardo for television moving it to Mexico and all kinds
of petty things went wrong including the on-off button
4)The television design is user unfriendly....especially for the older buyers (the ones with the $$)
The hide the power switch...insisted all controls be menu based. I saw older buyers say...forget
it, its too complicated for us.
5) They abandon quality surround sound and components in favor a a 100 watt Receiver for
$149.00 that was crap. How much profit can there be in a $149 product?????????
6) The abandon brand building commercials that they did in early in the decade. Remember the older guy who goes to Russia and buys passage on a Russian Rocket...and they said, when your grand children ask where the money went show them the video?
7) They sold their products to Walmart with all the low priced leaders like RCA et al/.
This shows that just b/c you are a high paid executive in a global firm does not mean
you have good judgment....based on results...they have horrible judgement.

  • By kenneth cascio

And don't forget the SACD fiasco.

  • By George Pecar Jr.

Hey Jerry,
Interesting piece. Seeing Sony posting its first loss in fourteen years illustrates the struggle the world economy is facing. It's a painful reminder of what many of us are dealing with in these complicated times.
If I could make one request? Could you please save your digs on the US automotive industry?--"unlike many American companies - for instance General Motors - Sony's products are still top-notch".
Some Sony products are top-notch. Some are garbage. The same can be said for GM, and others. The 'autos' have taken enough abuse, some deserved, some not. Yes I am from the Detroit area. No I'm not some Union thug. I'm sick while I watch an industry that helped create the middle class, crumble. This is twice as nauseating, when I hear folks who likely drive foreign cars from California, trash companies that they really know little about. These are real people, and their families, being affected by this. Can we keep the discussion centered on our industry, and leave the pseudo-eco-political speak to Clear Channel?

I wondered as well, why they stopped Qualia. I wanted to get my hands on those $2500.00 headphones!!As far as their loss, no one is immune.

  • By brands

Sony reported their first annual loss in 14 years today, however the company beat their estimate as to how deep the loss would be.

Should be: Sony reported their first annual loss in 14 years today. The company however, beat their.........

Sony is not alone in its troubles and unlike many American companies - for instance General Motors - Sony's products are still top-notch

Should be: Sony is not alone in it's troubles and unlike many American companies, General Motors for instance, their products are..........

You're a lousy writer Jerry.

Post a Comment

Please answer the following question (required) before posting to help us prevent Spam.


Featured Audio-Video News

Experiencing Your Dream Home Theater While On Vacation

Experiencing Your Dream Home Theater While On Vacation -

It isn't any news that the economy is in the dumps. Morphing your living room, garage or basement into the...

Latest Industry Trade News

Experiencing Your Dream Home Theater While On Vacation -

It isn't any news that the economy is in the dumps. Morphing your living room, garage or basement into the screening room of your dreams is harder today than ever before but fret not - there is a way for... Click for more...

Finding New Consumers After The 25 Year Boom In Home Theater Is Over -

We are pretty open and overt about how we make our living here at HomeTheaterReview.com. We don't own a store. We don't have an ecommerce portal or affiliate deals. We don't even sell t-shirts or coffee mugs (perhaps someday). The... Click for more...

Samsung, Dreamworks and Technicolor Ink Deal For 3D -

Samsung Electronics America, Inc., DreamWorks Animation SKG and Technicolor just announced that they have formed a global strategic alliance for the delivery of a complete 3D home entertainment solution in 2010. The three companies have joined forces to accelerate the... Click for more...

Home Theater Review Updates Its Comments System -

HomeTheaterReview.com has changed the way users can post comments on the site. From now on users must either use their Facebook accounts and/or create a HomeTheaterReview.com account to post comments. This comes as many spammers and flamers have tried unsuccessfully... Click for more...

Will Blu-ray Profile 3.0 Be the Magic Bullet For Audiophile HD Music? -

Even for audiophiles, SACD is fading out of favor. Fewer labels are releasing new SACDs, and the labels that are still selling them are bringing out fewer discs. And of course for years now, DVD-Audio has been essentially extinct. What... Click for more...

CES 2010 Show Report - Brian Kahn -

CES was notably more upbeat and crowded this year. If CES can be viewed as an indicator of the year ahead, this year will be a rebuilding year, we will not get back to the pre-recession heights quite yet but... Click for more...

CES 2010 Show Report - Adrienne Maxwell -

Apparently, consumers want 3D HDTV, whether they know it yet or not. 3D was the It technology at this year's CES. The industry is convinced that the big-screen success of 3D, especially Avatar, will translate into a desire for 3D... Click for more...

2010 CES Show Report- Andrew Robinson -

Coming off of a fairly subdued 2009 CEDIA I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from 2010 CES. The buzz around the convention was that consumers and manufacturers were in good spirits and happy that 2009 was behind them. I... Click for more...

CES 2010 Show Report - Jerry Del Colliano -

The 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is over and despite many predicting total gloom and doom for the business, the mood was notably up as was attendance. The draw on the show was the fact that many companies made decisions... Click for more...

CES 2010 Show Report - Ken Taraszka, MD -

While the down economy has hit every industry hard, ours being no exception, the 2010 CES showed a big change in attitude. People were optimistic, new models abounded and the crowd was the largest seen in a long time. Proving... Click for more...