Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Can Business Computing Save Sony?

Earlier today Sony unveiled it’s “Vaio Business” brand, the first step in its move to try and conquer the business computing market. Frankly, it’s good to see some positive news coming from a company that’s been beaten mercilessly over the past few months.

The “leader”, which has been battered by slowing sales, product issues and increased innovation from competition, needs this move into the enterprise to work, or else it may be continuous tough times for the future. It’s estimated that Sony could lose upwards of $3 billion because of this summer’s battery recall; profit dropped nearly 100% this last quarter; and issues with hardware for the PS3 has put it well behind schedule, in a dangerous loss per system margin, and well behind the launch of it’s biggest competition, the Xbox 360.

Consumers in the video game market have brand loyalty that runs deeper than most, but that doesn’t mean they’re sheep – if the PS3 doesn’t hit a homerun out of the gate, we could be looking at the next Dreamcast or Gamecube.

Does Sony have the wherewithal to make it through these tough times? Well, they didn’t top the market because they lacked business sense or innovation. When Sony looked down on the marketplace, it forced the competition to up its innovation, determination and value to the market. Now, when seemingly nothing can go right for a formerly infallible brand, Sony will have to take lessons learned from the Panasonics, Toshibas, etc. if they want to reclaim their spot atop the marketplace elite.

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