Sony hopes for digital revolution

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If that's true, it could be a propitious moment in Sony's history. But success is by no means certain. "They're at a crossroads. The brand name of Sony doesn't mean anything in the PC market," said Kimball Brown, analyst with the Dataquest research group. "On one hand, they have to get in; on the other, I'm not convinced they can."

That seems to be the opinion of many analysts and executives, who say that Sony has an uphill task in trying to establish itself as a major player in computers. But few are willing to write off the company, which has led a mostly charmed life--and its timing may prove right again as recent projections of stagnant PC sales turn out to be exaggerated. Moreover, as the industry shifts its focus from the Internet to corporate intranets, the leading vendors could be leaving some room for others in the home consumer market.

"They have the brand name and distribution channels," said Linda Kazares, president of Ambit International, a San Francisco-based consulting firm. "The computer industry is too plugged in to thinking that it's selling to other manufacturers. It's a retail market."

And no one does retail like Sony.

Beyond its technological advances, the electronics giant has one weapon in the consumer battle that perhaps even Bill Gates envies: the Sony label. According to a recent Louis Harris poll, Sony is the most respected and recognizable brand name in the United States, surpassing General Motors, Coca-Cola, and AT&T.

For this reason, the technical features of Sony's first PC may in fact matter less than its brand name; as some would say, image is everything. "They're in a good position to go out and make a statement with their reputation and brand ID," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Research International in Santa Clara, California.

The first statement seemed somewhat muted at PC Expo this week. Sony's inaugural PC was respectable but not particularly remarkable, starting with its prosaic name: the VAIO PC, for Video Audio Integrated Operation. Analysts say the company may have made the name sound deliberately technical to establish credibility in a field for which Sony is not known.

This is not a toy
"PC-Man would have made it sound like a toy," said Jan Loomis, managing editor of industry newsletter Internet Marketing and Technology Report, speculating on what moniker Sony might have chosen in a different world. Still, she says, the VAIO's features seem aimed at the same home market that Sony has dominated with entertainment appliances for so long.