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Sony said to be sitting on $1.1 billion annual loss, first in 14 years
- Thread starter edesignuk
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They used to make good crt tvs compared to everyone else and they still make some decent high end audio equipment that you can't actually buy anywhere - apart from that, they're king of the disgusting, useless corporates, making poor quality equipment with non existent service, yet somehow still charging a premium and surviving through rootkits/bribery/incompetence on people buying perceived quality and ignorance, and because it's shiny.
I reckon anyway...
edit: Re-reading my angry babble it doesn't make much sense - but yes
They used to make good crt tvs compared to everyone else and they still make some decent high end audio equipment that you can't actually buy anywhere - apart from that, they're king of the disgusting, useless corporates, making poor quality equipment with non existent service, yet somehow still charging a premium and surviving through rootkits/bribery/incompetence on people buying perceived quality and ignorance, and because it's shiny.
I reckon anyway...
edit: Re-reading my angry babble it doesn't make much sense - but yes
It would be interesting to see a breakdown of this rumoured loss. I wonder how well the Games divisions are doing, as well as Sony Pictures, in relation to other divisions. Although they have a reputation in certain areas, they're pretty weak in consumer Hi-Fi.
I have a Sony clock-radio. It's OK, I guess, with the typical overkill of too many buttons for such a simple gadget, much like your usual video remote.
I have a Sony clock-radio. It's OK, I guess, with the typical overkill of too many buttons for such a simple gadget, much like your usual video remote.
I bet you their products are doing OK. They're not a company that churns out weak products. Well, that's generally true.
If I had to guess, I'd assume that it's probably the overall cost of managing the company that's very inefficient, because I have a hard time believing that Sony is losing so much money because their products are bad. There are many companies who make worse products, and yet still manage to make money.
If I had to guess, I'd assume that it's probably the overall cost of managing the company that's very inefficient, because I have a hard time believing that Sony is losing so much money because their products are bad. There are many companies who make worse products, and yet still manage to make money.
I find Sony somewhat of an enigma. Their products always seem great and most people seem happy with them however every Sony product, as far back as I can remember, that myself or my family have ever owned has failed in one way or another. The TV literally exploding as we were watching it being the most memorable. 
I find Sony somewhat of an enigma. Their products always seem great and most people seem happy with them however every Sony product, as far back as I can remember, that myself or my family have ever owned has failed in one way or another. The TV literally exploding as we were watching it being the most memorable.
Very true with some things. I still have a 10 year old Sony Trinitron TV that works perfectly that is my main TV. I still have a 10 year old Sony DVD player that works perfectly though I rarely use it much anymore since iTunes.
I did buy a Sony rack system around 1998 with the 50 CD carousel thing, the dual tape deck, the receiver and huge speakers and surround system. The receiver started having troubles about a year after purchase. When I would use the remote to adjust the volume, it would stop working and "circuit protect" would flash on the display till I shut it off and back on. Eventually, it got so I couldn't use the remote. I wanted to replace it with another Sony. I finally got around to replacing it a few months ago but didn't chose Sony, I got an Onkyo receiver.
When my10 year old Sony trinitron TV decides to finally give it up, I will replace it with some HD tv or something but till then, I see no need.
Someone told me today Sony haven't broken even with the PS3 yet. The guy tends to talk crap so I don't take much notice...
They won the format wars so that will help, but taking a bath trying to get Blu-ray into people's living rooms won't help much over the last year.
However the benefits to be reaped from winning the format war on the verge of optical media's demise due to downloadable content may not have been worth the short term losses.
They used to make good stuff, my 9 year old Trinitron finally died last summer, I still have one of their DVD players, and a PS2. I don't really hate them, other than the way they like to use their corporate weight to push their own formats on the customer. Doesn't every Sony product start with the question of "OK, we've got a Memory Stick slot, what do we want to build around it?"
However the benefits to be reaped from winning the format war on the verge of optical media's demise due to downloadable content may not have been worth the short term losses.
They used to make good stuff, my 9 year old Trinitron finally died last summer, I still have one of their DVD players, and a PS2. I don't really hate them, other than the way they like to use their corporate weight to push their own formats on the customer. Doesn't every Sony product start with the question of "OK, we've got a Memory Stick slot, what do we want to build around it?"
The recession's not all bad news then.
Wouldn't surprise me, Microsoft didn't break even on the Xbox 360 until 2007. In fact they are still loosing $31 per console, but are turning a profit with games.
Wouldn't surprise me, Microsoft didn't break even on the Xbox 360 until 2007. In fact they are still loosing $31 per console, but are turning a profit with games.
That's considered a long time now? My parents' 16 year old Sony Trinitron (35".....was considered quite nice at the time) is still going strong, while the 11 year old Panasonic Gaoo (or whatever it's called) hasn't had a problem either. They're simply not things that we expect to fail.
I think the weakest part of Sony may be the music business, but the entire record industry is in a slump, so it's not exclusively a Sony issue.
