April 30, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
Can Sony click with download store?
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Sony traces some of UMD's early problems to Hollywood. When the PSP first launched, the studios "threw all of their content against the wall to see what stuck," said John Koller, Sony's senior marketing manager for PSP. The strategy needed to be more targeted to the PSP's core audience, he asserted.
Of course sales of romantic comedies from the 1970s were going to collect dust, he said. The typical PSP owner is a 17-year-old male who wants car chases and Borat.
In the past year, price reductions have helped UMD gain a fair amount of traction, according to Koller. He noted that Target Brands, which stopped selling UMDs last summer, brought them back in the fall and that executives at the retailer are "extremely happy with sales."
"I think the UMD is an evolving story," Koller said. "We're still seeing studios release UMDs, maybe not as much as they used to, but they are much more targeted. I think to say the UMD is dead is premature because it's a format that we will continue to support."
Will compatibility prevail?
If Sony is working on a download store, the company must at least crack the door open for nonproprietary formats if it hopes to challenge Apple, McQuivey said. While Apple may sell music wrapped in proprietary antipiracy software, the iPod still plays unprotected MP3s. So does Microsoft's digital music player, Zune.
With Sony "you got a company here that's pushing its own approach on every level, and as a result nobody is using its memory stick or video format," McQuivey said. "So you don't have the same robust market that you could have had if you said, 'We're going to open this up. You can put your Windows Media files on here. You can put your QuickTime files on here.'"
PSP fans agree. Jason Fields, a product evangelist for search engine Snap.com, bought his PSP two days after the March 2005 launch. He said he's hoping that if Sony does launch a video download store, he'll be able to transfer some of the video files from his iPod onto his PSP. He knows that even if the files are on an open format, Sony would still be confronted by challenges concerning aspect ratios, codecs (converters for analog-digital format translations) and other technological hurdles.
"It would be brilliant if the PSP supported the iPod," Fields said. "I'm sure even if they don't, someone could come up with a product or hack that could do it. If they did I would use it and abuse it."
PSP owners and Hollywood studios are hoping that Sony hasn't scrapped plans for the download store.
One studio executive, who wished to comment anonymously because she is not authorized to speak for Sony, said that the movie industry was pulling for the PSP to emerge as a competitor to the iPod. Steve Jobs won big concessions from the music industry after running away with the digital music market. The film industry didn't want to be thrust into the same position.
"But Sony has been so dysfunctional and clueless when it comes to the Internet," said the executive. "We keep hoping they pull themselves together...with the PSP video, we're hoping they create a forward-thinking strategy and stick to it."
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15 comments
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in gaming (I don't even want something that has the option of
playing games on it, but my iPod wasn't originally designed for
them)... and the kids that I know who own a PSP, they seem to have
ZERO interest in sitting down with it and watching a movie.
It's a testament to how poorly researched and marketed the PSP
was.
Sony has the perfect chance to turn this little device into a mini computer, if only they would allow applications like a calendar, address book and a few other pda type apps...Unfortunately unless you have an older device without the old firmware you are out of luck in trying to run "homebrew" which essentially exploits the wonderful functionality of this device.
Sony seems doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, anyone remember Beta tapes?
We have the historic examples to show that format wars don't help anyone. Beta is a good example. A worse example is UMD, for which there is simply no rationale excuse.
Apple is not a God. They, just like Google, took a look at the market, at what people wanted and then did their best to give them that product.
Things that just work. Its a complex world today and I don't have time to be a geek for every new thing that comes out. Make it "Just work".
Nuff said. :-)
en
Dear Sony/Industry:
Isn't it obvious? We're not really ever going to adopt a "buy twice" strategy. Oh sure, you'll get a few buy anything early adopters - but never a real market segment.
Equally obvious to anyone who tries it: Playing small screen content on a large screen - eh not so good. Sell us the HD disc and let us downscale to our portable devices. Or throwaway the idea that we'll buy anything for our portable devices at all. Manipulating content we paid for doesn't make us pirates, it makes us enthusiastic users. Guess who buys the most product? Enthusiastic users.
Oh and the proprietary format thing? Why would we? Do you really think we're that stupid? Or brand loyal? NOT.
There was mention of Blu-Ray discs coming with a PSP formatted video, but so far, it's been conjecture on forums.
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451414&in_page_id=1770&ICO=NEWS&ICL=TOPART" target="_newWindow">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451414&in_page_id=1770&ICO=NEWS&ICL=TOPART</a>
Slaughter: Horror at Sony's depraved promotion stunt with decapitated goat
"Electronics giant Sony has sparked a major row over animal cruelty and the ethics of the computer industry by using a freshly slaughtered goat to promote a violent video game. The corpse of the decapitated animal was the centrepiece of a party to celebrate the launch of the God Of War II game for the company?s PlayStation 2 console. Guests at the event were even invited to reach inside the goat?s still-warm carcass to eat offal from its stomach."
Wow. I guess their goal was to offend women, animal lovers, and Christians all at the same time.
I thought this might be a strange joke until I googled it. Nope, it's pretty much accurate. Supposely, Sony has responded with this attempt at an explanation:
The photograph shown in the Playstation Magazine was one of many supplied to the magazine to provide a balanced view of the event. Unfortunately, the article was sensationalised and focused on a picture that was unrepresentative of the wider event.
The event was a theatrical dramatisation with a Greek mythological theme and, as part of the set dressing, a dead goat was sourced by the production company from a local butcher. Following the mainstream popularity of shows such as 'I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of here' a series of challenges were set for the journalists. The 'warm entrails' referred to in the invitation and in the Mail on Sunday article was actually a meat soup, made to a traditional Greek recipe and served to attendees in china bowls direct from the caterers. There was never any question of journalists being able to touch the goat, or indeed eat the soup direct from the body of the goat, as one report has alleged. The goat was returned to the butcher at the end of the event.
We recognise that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves. We are conducting an enquiry to establish the circumstances behind the event in order to ensure this does not happen again. We also apologise to anyone offended by the article in the OPSM (subscription copies were sent out ahead of street date).
Nick Sharples
Director of Corporate Communications
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Sorry, Baaaaad joke.