How Sony failed to Connect, again

(continued from previous page)

The software that finally emerged pleased few. In a move virtually unprecedented in Sony's history, executives in the company's U.S. operations refused to release the software in their market. The European division didn't have the same option, and Connect was released there and in Japan in November 2005.

Customers began reporting critical bugs, sometimes rising to complete unusability. By January, Sony issued an apology to its customers, and recommended that if the repeated updates weren't working, people should simply download the old pre-Connect SonicStage software.

Executives looked at fixing the project, and decided against it. Patches were released until April, when development on the Connect software stopped altogether.

A second life for Kinoma?
The end of Connect wasn't the end for Kinoma and Hoddie's role at Sony, however.

By early 2006, work began on Sony's new, high-profile eBook Reader, using Kinoma's FSK as a foundation.

According to insiders, Hoddie was given more direct control over this project than he had with Connect. It was touted by Stringer at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and Sony said it was slated for release in spring 2006.

How will this project fare? Some point to the successful prototype demonstration of the Reader running FSK-based software at the Consumer Electronics Show as proof that it has already come much farther than the Connect software ever did.

Other insiders note that it has been substantially delayed, without a clear end date in sight. They contend that programmers are again having difficulty integrating Kinoma's proprietary technologies with a standards-based Web content system.

Critics now say the Connect software debacle has further destabilized Sony's online music plans, and ceded 14 critical months of development and consumer awareness to Apple.

Insiders say the former Connect division is in turmoil. Tsujino left the unit in January. The loss of Wiser, who helped found the original Liquid Audio digital music company, further drains the company of people with experience in the digital music service business.

Sony has explored working with other online music companies, but nothing has yet come of it. For now, its hopes are pinned on the new generation of SonicStage, which some insiders say will be hard-pressed to handle features already planned for Sony's devices.

Sony is powerful and rich, no doubt. But it could be a long, tortuous climb back into the ring with Apple.

"Sony is still number two, three or four in almost every region, shipping millions of players," said Envisioneering analyst Richard Doherty. "It's the services side that has remained such a challenge for them."

[datacowboy]

Sony should buy TiVo

...and do for video what Apple did for music. The metrics and models between music and video do not completely match, but video content needs to evolve like music content has.

Apple's foray into video is limited because they are not owners of the content. They are limited to brokering deals. Sony owns content and could start distributing it however they please and foster consumer demand. This applies to VoD, rental, and broadcast with consumer acceptable digital rights. Others would fall in line.

Add to this transfer capabilities to PSP, possible TiVo software on the PS3, and you have a real competitive offering.

[nmcphers]

Ownership

"Apple's foray into video is limited because they are not owners of the content."

I'm trying to figure out how you could have come up with such a comment when everything else goes against it. Apple doesn't own the music on iTunes, so why isn't their foray limited? Sony owns a record label, yet their foray in music limited.

Apple's foray in video is limited because they make it so. They are testing the waters. Has nothing to do with not owning the content.

[datacowboy]

Sony should buy TiVo

...and do for video what Apple did for music. The metrics and models between music and video do not completely match, but video content needs to evolve like music content has.

Apple's foray into video is limited because they are not owners of the content. They are limited to brokering deals. Sony owns content and could start distributing it however they please and foster consumer demand. This applies to VoD, rental, and broadcast with consumer acceptable digital rights. Others would fall in line.

Add to this transfer capabilities to PSP, possible TiVo software on the PS3, and you have a real competitive offering.

[nmcphers]

Ownership

"Apple's foray into video is limited because they are not owners of the content."

I'm trying to figure out how you could have come up with such a comment when everything else goes against it. Apple doesn't own the music on iTunes, so why isn't their foray limited? Sony owns a record label, yet their foray in music limited.

Apple's foray in video is limited because they make it so. They are testing the waters. Has nothing to do with not owning the content.

[Rickardo]

How to CRUSH the competitors

The first company to drop DRM across its entire catalog and open up a music store for their stuff and sell direct cutting out all the contenders (iTunes, Napster, whomever) is going to dropkick the sales charts out the window. EVERY other company will closely envelope themselves in their protective DRM and watch their sales drop. And whoever the biggie is who had no fear will start to totally kill the competition. Granted if it's Sony they'll have to be happy with just doubling or tripling their music sales and slide by with whatever MP3 (not AAC, not WMV) player they can cobble together. Artists at all the other labels will abandon ship the instant their contracts expire. Next the label should ENCOURAGE P2P of all that downloaded music. The totally sneaky idea is to build a rep as the corporate behemoth who loves (not hates and despises) their customers. Those customers would be drawn under the spell like rats before a cobra. They'd have no choice but to buy, and buy and buy. Even buy stuff they would never have thought to buy before because they happened across some interesting stuff via P2P.

Imagine, music fans LOVE their artists and also LOVE the publisher. Now that is science fiction if I ever heard it. Hey, maybe Pixar could make a movie. Have to be animation though cause no one living would dare appear in it for fear of ...

Rant off.

[Rickardo]

How to CRUSH the competitors

The first company to drop DRM across its entire catalog and open up a music store for their stuff and sell direct cutting out all the contenders (iTunes, Napster, whomever) is going to dropkick the sales charts out the window. EVERY other company will closely envelope themselves in their protective DRM and watch their sales drop. And whoever the biggie is who had no fear will start to totally kill the competition. Granted if it's Sony they'll have to be happy with just doubling or tripling their music sales and slide by with whatever MP3 (not AAC, not WMV) player they can cobble together. Artists at all the other labels will abandon ship the instant their contracts expire. Next the label should ENCOURAGE P2P of all that downloaded music. The totally sneaky idea is to build a rep as the corporate behemoth who loves (not hates and despises) their customers. Those customers would be drawn under the spell like rats before a cobra. They'd have no choice but to buy, and buy and buy. Even buy stuff they would never have thought to buy before because they happened across some interesting stuff via P2P.

Imagine, music fans LOVE their artists and also LOVE the publisher. Now that is science fiction if I ever heard it. Hey, maybe Pixar could make a movie. Have to be animation though cause no one living would dare appear in it for fear of ...

Rant off.

[sigma8]

Since when was Sony a fan of non-proprietary stuff?

I wonder if the implication that Sony didn't like the fact that
Kinoma's stuff was proprietary was Sony's complaint? Or a
complaint projected by the author of this article?

Sony doesn't seem to be a strong fan of open standards like
XML. Nearly every device it makes uses some proprietary
technology. Atrac, AVC, UMD discs, minidiscs.

[woutek]

every non-proprietary stuff was proprietary once

Yup, Sony wasn't always successful with their standards but people tend to forget that standards as CD / DVD / Floppy Disk and a lot more were also originally 'Sony Only' You'd be suprised how many technologies (most of them not that well known maybe) are used in everyones life as being de-facto standards today that were invented and pushed by Sony.

Of course not all worked out fine, that's the risk you have if you dare to be a trendsetter rather as a follower, but in some cases this was fair, in other cases not. People like to make fun about ATRAC, but as a Sony Walkman owner I can use both ATRAC as MP3 on my PC using the sony soft and I can ensure you the quality of the ATRAC songs is superiour to MP3. It's not because MP3 has become popular since you can copy freely without wondering about legal aspects that the quality is good. I hear nobody complaining about Apple's non-proprietary format called i-Tunes, which is far more restrictive than Sony's one for instance.

UMD is to be used for PSP only, I don't hear anybody complain they have to use cartridges in their nintendo's so what's the point ? Would a full sized DVD have been a better approach ... nah, guess not...

What XML has to do in your list is a bit strange to me by the way...

[sigma8]

Since when was Sony a fan of non-proprietary stuff?

I wonder if the implication that Sony didn't like the fact that
Kinoma's stuff was proprietary was Sony's complaint? Or a
complaint projected by the author of this article?

Sony doesn't seem to be a strong fan of open standards like
XML. Nearly every device it makes uses some proprietary
technology. Atrac, AVC, UMD discs, minidiscs.

[woutek]

every non-proprietary stuff was proprietary once

Yup, Sony wasn't always successful with their standards but people tend to forget that standards as CD / DVD / Floppy Disk and a lot more were also originally 'Sony Only' You'd be suprised how many technologies (most of them not that well known maybe) are used in everyones life as being de-facto standards today that were invented and pushed by Sony.

Of course not all worked out fine, that's the risk you have if you dare to be a trendsetter rather as a follower, but in some cases this was fair, in other cases not. People like to make fun about ATRAC, but as a Sony Walkman owner I can use both ATRAC as MP3 on my PC using the sony soft and I can ensure you the quality of the ATRAC songs is superiour to MP3. It's not because MP3 has become popular since you can copy freely without wondering about legal aspects that the quality is good. I hear nobody complaining about Apple's non-proprietary format called i-Tunes, which is far more restrictive than Sony's one for instance.

UMD is to be used for PSP only, I don't hear anybody complain they have to use cartridges in their nintendo's so what's the point ? Would a full sized DVD have been a better approach ... nah, guess not...

What XML has to do in your list is a bit strange to me by the way...

[Yet Another Mark Johnson]

Clearer Now

I'm been wondering for MANY months now just why it is taking so unbelieveably long to get the new ebook reader to market. It's hardly some radical new technology, the display (eInk) is very cool, but the underlying tech of the device is far more "off the shelf" than "cutting edge." It's like taking the guts of a PDA and slapping a new (vastly improved and lower power) lcd into it. How hard is that?

Obviously the "how are we going to make an iTunes for books" problem is (as this article helpfully describes) the real crux of the issue. And also obviously Sony can't seem to find the answer to that question.

The funny thing is that I (and I suspect a huge portion of the potential ebook market) couldn't care less when/if they get their iTunesForBooks equivalent done. I want to buy the reader right now simply to display my own reference content on. I have basically no interest in buying a DRM "a la carte" copy of a Grisham novel, etc. anyway.

So the irony is that potential customers like me can't buy the hardware because the store isn't ready yet.

Hopefully Apple will come into this and just take the whole market overnight. They really should. If Apple licensed the eInk screen, made a reader and then added a books section to Itunes, they'd own the game instantly. I find it strange that they haven't wanted to get into this.

[Yet Another Mark Johnson]

Clearer Now

I'm been wondering for MANY months now just why it is taking so unbelieveably long to get the new ebook reader to market. It's hardly some radical new technology, the display (eInk) is very cool, but the underlying tech of the device is far more "off the shelf" than "cutting edge." It's like taking the guts of a PDA and slapping a new (vastly improved and lower power) lcd into it. How hard is that?

Obviously the "how are we going to make an iTunes for books" problem is (as this article helpfully describes) the real crux of the issue. And also obviously Sony can't seem to find the answer to that question.

The funny thing is that I (and I suspect a huge portion of the potential ebook market) couldn't care less when/if they get their iTunesForBooks equivalent done. I want to buy the reader right now simply to display my own reference content on. I have basically no interest in buying a DRM "a la carte" copy of a Grisham novel, etc. anyway.

So the irony is that potential customers like me can't buy the hardware because the store isn't ready yet.

Hopefully Apple will come into this and just take the whole market overnight. They really should. If Apple licensed the eInk screen, made a reader and then added a books section to Itunes, they'd own the game instantly. I find it strange that they haven't wanted to get into this.

[Stan Johnson]

How Sony failed to Connect, again

I'm just happy they failed. I hope more failure is to come for Sony.

[bobj123]

Blu-Ray is Next

^^
FAIL SONY FAIL!

[HalfEmptyGlass]

Why

Why you're so happy? You must be an Apple employee. As a consumer, I want LOTS of companies to succeed, not to fail.

[fakespam]

Kewl

Sure, why not!

[markdoiron]

Sony's Path to Success

There are two major things Sony must do to succeed:

1. Get out of the content business. Focus on what they were good at in the past: hardware (and they'll need to develop the talent to create great software to run that hardware).

2. Forget about locking in their customers. Sell the best solution and they won't have to force consumers to continue to use their products. It should be company policy that anyone using the word "proprietary" as a positive feature of a Sony product should be counseled the first time, then fired for the second offense.

mark d.

[Stan Johnson]

How Sony failed to Connect, again

I'm just happy they failed. I hope more failure is to come for Sony.

[bobj123]

Blu-Ray is Next

^^
FAIL SONY FAIL!

[HalfEmptyGlass]

Why

Why you're so happy? You must be an Apple employee. As a consumer, I want LOTS of companies to succeed, not to fail.

[fakespam]

Kewl

Sure, why not!

[markdoiron]

Sony's Path to Success

There are two major things Sony must do to succeed:

1. Get out of the content business. Focus on what they were good at in the past: hardware (and they'll need to develop the talent to create great software to run that hardware).

2. Forget about locking in their customers. Sell the best solution and they won't have to force consumers to continue to use their products. It should be company policy that anyone using the word "proprietary" as a positive feature of a Sony product should be counseled the first time, then fired for the second offense.

mark d.

[GrandpaN1947]

Good

Good. Sony reaps what Sony shovels.

[GrandpaN1947]

Good

Good. Sony reaps what Sony shovels.

[irisfailsafe]

Merge with Apple

has Sony ever thought of merging with Apple making Stevo the
headmaster...
Ditch VAIO's and walkmans, maker their TV's, DVD's run Mac OS
X... Let them be designed by Jonathan Ive and his team...

[baquiano]

Doesn't make sense

I guess all the articles about Sony say how hard it is for them to
work across groups. At Apple that seems to be easy and that's
why their products are pretty much well connected. If they
merge, it really wouldn't help Apple which is quite nimble lately.

[gubbord]

How about GE merging with your local Indian grocer

makes as much sense. Apple has one breakout profitable product and it's due to be overshadowed soon. the rest of their assets consist of apple fanboys.

[woutek]

sure...

Apple is a one trick pony, and even the i-Pod is not manufactured by Apple, only designed. It was the right product at the right moment at the right time but that's it. More and more it's getting clear the iPod is in collision course with music phones and they won't be able to stop that. Currently the total amount of music enabled phones is pretty close to the amount of iPods, and it will soon be surpassed as people prefer to have one device rather as 2 or 3 to do the job. Highend iPods will of course stay intresting because of the diskspace and additional features, but the competition ain't doing nothing either ...

Apart from that Steve Jobs may have done some good things lately with Apple, but older people amongst us migth still remember the terible shape of the company when he left it during his previous live as CEO of Apple...

[irisfailsafe]

Merge with Apple

has Sony ever thought of merging with Apple making Stevo the
headmaster...
Ditch VAIO's and walkmans, maker their TV's, DVD's run Mac OS
X... Let them be designed by Jonathan Ive and his team...

[baquiano]

Doesn't make sense

I guess all the articles about Sony say how hard it is for them to
work across groups. At Apple that seems to be easy and that's
why their products are pretty much well connected. If they
merge, it really wouldn't help Apple which is quite nimble lately.

[gubbord]

How about GE merging with your local Indian grocer

makes as much sense. Apple has one breakout profitable product and it's due to be overshadowed soon. the rest of their assets consist of apple fanboys.

[woutek]

sure...

Apple is a one trick pony, and even the i-Pod is not manufactured by Apple, only designed. It was the right product at the right moment at the right time but that's it. More and more it's getting clear the iPod is in collision course with music phones and they won't be able to stop that. Currently the total amount of music enabled phones is pretty close to the amount of iPods, and it will soon be surpassed as people prefer to have one device rather as 2 or 3 to do the job. Highend iPods will of course stay intresting because of the diskspace and additional features, but the competition ain't doing nothing either ...

Apart from that Steve Jobs may have done some good things lately with Apple, but older people amongst us migth still remember the terible shape of the company when he left it during his previous live as CEO of Apple...

[Cyril Demaria]

Moving forward with FSK is the wrong solution

Being an owner of a Sony MP3 player I must say that... the hardware is great and the software is totally deficient. Connect is slow, clumsy and the systematic transformation of MP3 in ATRAC just adds more trouble to any synchronisation (which is awfully slow).

But I do not applaud iTunes and iPod. I believe that the DRM battle between Sony, Microsoft, Apple and a few others to set up a proprietary standard is wrong for the market. Open standards should be the norm, or at least stick with actual standards (MP3, MPEG).

Sony wants to stick with FSK? Then no wonder if they go again into the wall.

It is time to revise a misconception: the classical sales model for content is past. The success of Apple is not from iTunes but the fact that you can play MP3 tunes on your iPod.

iTunes is marketing. The big money comes from hardware at Apple - ask Samsung which has lost the compression chip manufacturing contract.

Sony has to innovate by:
> selling its music business
> champion open standards
> design and manufacture good hardware

In a word: PSX, Mobile phones (SonyEricsson), MP3 players and possibly laptops.

As a related story, I suggest to read my post about Quaero to be published on the www.360journal.com which examines a related issue - searching multimedia contents in a DRM world.

[Cyril Demaria]

Moving forward with FSK is the wrong solution

Being an owner of a Sony MP3 player I must say that... the hardware is great and the software is totally deficient. Connect is slow, clumsy and the systematic transformation of MP3 in ATRAC just adds more trouble to any synchronisation (which is awfully slow).

But I do not applaud iTunes and iPod. I believe that the DRM battle between Sony, Microsoft, Apple and a few others to set up a proprietary standard is wrong for the market. Open standards should be the norm, or at least stick with actual standards (MP3, MPEG).

Sony wants to stick with FSK? Then no wonder if they go again into the wall.

It is time to revise a misconception: the classical sales model for content is past. The success of Apple is not from iTunes but the fact that you can play MP3 tunes on your iPod.

iTunes is marketing. The big money comes from hardware at Apple - ask Samsung which has lost the compression chip manufacturing contract.

Sony has to innovate by:
> selling its music business
> champion open standards
> design and manufacture good hardware

In a word: PSX, Mobile phones (SonyEricsson), MP3 players and possibly laptops.

As a related story, I suggest to read my post about Quaero to be published on the www.360journal.com which examines a related issue - searching multimedia contents in a DRM world.

[CBSTV]

Peter Hoddie

In view of Sony's continuing problems in the digital music business,
I'd say that Peter Hoddie is still working for Apple!

[CBSTV]

Peter Hoddie

In view of Sony's continuing problems in the digital music business,
I'd say that Peter Hoddie is still working for Apple!

[Dead Soulman]

Too Many Products.

The problem/challenge with Sony is that the products they offer to the U.S. market is different from the one they have in Japan. This "dual-production" method will, and it has, kill any company's chance to compete and stay on top. Sony is dying from this crazy, and unexplicable production practice.

All MP3 manufacturers are dying to kill Apple's domination of the market. But, they keep releasing product after product without any proper planning. Sure Apple spends a fortune on marketing. But, they only have a limited number of products "iPod, iPod Shuffle (which it seems to be on they way out, and iPod Nano. That's it. These products evolve and are phased out or replaced with better products as the technology progresses. That's it. No, "20 or 25 different products released annually."

Simple. Produce a limited amount of items, support and develop them. Connect could have a chance as long as they orchestrate their strategy smartly.

But, if Sony continues this failing strategy, they don't stand a chance.

[Dead Soulman]

Too Many Products.

The problem/challenge with Sony is that the products they offer to the U.S. market is different from the one they have in Japan. This "dual-production" method will, and it has, kill any company's chance to compete and stay on top. Sony is dying from this crazy, and unexplicable production practice.

All MP3 manufacturers are dying to kill Apple's domination of the market. But, they keep releasing product after product without any proper planning. Sure Apple spends a fortune on marketing. But, they only have a limited number of products "iPod, iPod Shuffle (which it seems to be on they way out, and iPod Nano. That's it. These products evolve and are phased out or replaced with better products as the technology progresses. That's it. No, "20 or 25 different products released annually."

Simple. Produce a limited amount of items, support and develop them. Connect could have a chance as long as they orchestrate their strategy smartly.

But, if Sony continues this failing strategy, they don't stand a chance.