Walkman to stage a comeback with Android?
The Sony Walkman X-Series.
(Credit: Sony)Remember the Sony Walkman? It was, at one time, the iPod of its day. No other portable media player was capable of competing against the Walkman. Everyone wanted to get their hands on Sony's stellar device. And every year, when Sony would tweak it just a little bit, we all jumped at the chance to buy the latest and greatest Walkman.
But today, the Walkman is just an also-ran. Apple's iPod is dominating the business. With a firm grip on the market, there's currently no sign that Apple will be relinquishing its lead in the PMP space anytime soon. But Sony hasn't given up.
According to Engadget, the Japanese electronics powerhouse is planning to release an Android-based Walkman next year.
It makes sense. Rumors have been swirling since 2008 that its Sony Ericsson joint venture would be releasing an Android-based handset. Why wouldn't Sony also consider Google's mobile operating system for the Walkman?
Last month, Sony CEO Howard Stringer gave further indication that Sony is looking to software like Android to appeal to consumers. After saying his company would use more open standards in the future, Stringer told Nikkei Electronics Asia that "Sony has begun the transition from a closed system to an open one." Stringer also told the publication that if Sony "had gone with open technology from the start, I think we probably would have beaten Apple."
That's a lofty statement from a company that hasn't done much to beat Apple.
The iPod Touch and Zune HD both sport an operating system that makes them capable of extending the functionality of the device beyond playing media. Users can surf the Web, play games, and in the iPod Touch's case, download a variety of applications.
A Walkman with Android installed wouldn't be so different. The mobile operating system works with touch screens. The Android Marketplace makes adding applications to a device simple. And as long as Sony doesn't remove some of its better features, the Walkman's Android installation should also have Google Maps and a browser. It would be able to compete with the iPod Touch and the Zune HD.
Android, at least in my experience, is not as dynamic as the iPhone OS. But its open-source nature gives the vendor--in this case, Sony--the opportunity to do what it wants with the software.
Sony still needs to figure out how to create an iTunes-like experience. Now that iTunes has DRM-free music, users can download songs from Apple's store and add them to their Walkmans, but that's not nearly as convenient as downloading songs directly from a Walkman would be.
Another hurdle for Sony: while many people still know the Walkman, that name doesn't engender the kind of clout it once did. How many folks really know that Sony recently released the Walkman X-Series, which takes aim at the iPod Touch? The iPod is the thought leader in the music space, and there isn't much chance of that changing anytime soon.
Even with Android installed, the Walkman would likely be inferior to the iPod Touch. Sony has its work cut out for it, but it feels the call to try, and installing Android would likely be its best offensive against Apple on the PMP front yet.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Android offers Sony a unique opportunity to add a GREAT (and rapidly improving) OS to great hardware. Add the Google Mojo & you potentially have some hot selling devices.
Using Android would also allow Sony to focus on devices, apps & services, which are what ultimately generate revenue.
I agree that Zune on Android would be great. Microsoft could probably even charge a hefty price for it, in the Android Market.
Microsoft needs to let go of their past & look for opportunities like this, to create new revenue streams. Perhaps the DOJ's idea to break Microsoft into an OS company and an application company would have been the best thing to happen to Microsoft. Their apps company could be selling across multiple platforms and making a fortune.
I've had mp3 players since the Rio, and I moved from the Nitrus to the Mini several years ago and never looked back. iPod's aren't perfect by any stretch and I'd love to see a worthy competitor. The idea of a mp3 player with Android is a great idea, I'd love a device with features like wireless sync (zune's do that now) and a store with more free or demo open source content than what iTune offers. I'm still stuck on a Windows Mobile cellphone because of the vast 3rd party software support but i HATE windows mobile itself as a phone (pop-ups while I'm making a call? are you kidding me?).
If you can make something that works well, good battery, wifi, decent browser with support for other browsers, streaming (like psp from ps3) and manage to start the prices at $100 than I'm interested. Problem is Sony thinks everything should be $200 to $300 when competitors are $100-$200 and that's just not going to work.
And hopefully Sony really will ditch the proprietary Memory Sticks, ATRACS, UMDs, etc.
The Mp3 crown was there for the taking but Sony thought ATRACS was a better way to go and wasted their time with that. At the time Creative was the only company making an decent sized Mp3 player while the rest were only 256 MB or similar.
The iPod saved Apple. At the time Apple was known as the company from the 80s who had some recent success with the cute little iMacs and nobody quite knew what OSX was about at the time. I remember watching Forest Gump in 1994 and laughing when he talked about Apple stock because that was as good as Confederate money at the time. Sony's stupidity was Apple's gain.
- by AaronCT123 July 4, 2009 2:34 PM PDT
- It'd be nice if Sony found a way to challenge the iPod Touch or even the iPod more directly. As a Zune 80 user, I feel that more direct competition is only going to make the devices better. The Zune software and hard-drive models are top-notch. And maybe more competition would encourage Microsoft to further push the device- release internationaly, onto OS X, and market the device better. iPod definitely comes to mind first when one thinks of a portable media player. Hopefully Sony misses that enough.
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