Photo: Sony

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer claims that his firm is also working on a next-generation television, much like Apple did. He explained that he spent the last five years of his tenor at the company working on a platform to compete with the iPhone maker, and that Sony is on the verge of capitalising on it.

Four-screen strategy to take on Apple

Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer spoke at a breakfast hosted by the WSJ about his company’s oft-mentioned four-screen strategy – tablet, smartphone, laptop and television – and that the technology to drive the platform was ready. ‘I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs,’ he says, claiming that ‘it’s finished, and it’s launching now.’

New age Sony TV

While the smartphones, tablets, and laptops are already here in the form Sony wants them, Stringer revealed that his team was working on a new age television solution – not dissimilar from Apple’s oft-rumoured television ambitions.

He told the gathering that at Sony ‘There’s a tremendous amount of R&D going into a different kind of TV set.’ He continued, saying, ‘We can’t continue selling TV sets [as we currently do]. Every TV set we all make loses money.’

Vastly different fortunes

Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer is most certainly not lying, with his company’s television unit racking up losses eight years running, with the latest report pegging the unit at losing an incredible $2.2 billion (£1.38bn) this year.

Sony’s entire business is under immense pressure, while Apple is wracking up success after success. Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer is on his way out soon, though, so he likely won’t be around to enjoy the success – if any is to come – of his company’s four-screen strategy.

Photo: Morku / Flickr

In the US, revenue earned from sales of smartphone games on iOS and Android combined have outnumbered the revenue earned from sales of Nintendo DS and Sony games combined, according to a report. This is the first time in history that revenue from iOS games and Android games has topped that of revenue from Nintendo and Sony’s handheld consoles in North America.

Numbers don’t lie

The report comes courtesy of analytics company Flurry, who used their own research and NPD data to draw up a side-by-side comparison of the revenue share between mobile gaming and traditional handheld console games over 2009, 2010, and 2011 (extrapolated for the full year as per trends).

Their findings are immense. Starting on the left, for 2009, we calculate $2.7 billion in total U.S. portable game revenue. For 2010 and 2011, we estimate $2.5 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively,’ writes Peter Farago of Flurry.

He continues, saying: ‘The most striking trend is that iOS and Android games have tripled their market share from roughly 20% in 2009 to nearly 60% in just two years. Simultaneously, Nintendo, the once dominant player, has been crushed down to owning about one-third of market in 2011, from having controlled more than two-thirds in 2009. Combined, iOS and Android game revenue delivered $500 million, $800 million and $1.9 billion over 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.’ Incredible.

The end of the road for dedicated handhelds

There’s a temptation to get all alarmist, suggesting that this is evidence that dedicated handheld consoles are on their deathbeds. That might be too dramatic a proclamation to make, but to deny that mobile games are having a material impact on their business would be irresponsible. We’ve called it for some time now, saying that the overlap in audience meant smartphones would eventually make a dent on dedicated handheld consoles.

The extent of the damage is still surprising, though.

Photo: Tumnaselda / Flickr

Leading industry voices have dismissed Ubisoft’s deal with Sony Pictures over an Assassin’s Creed film. The dissenting voices say the deal is ridiculous, dismissing it as a ‘waste of time, ink and paper’ due to the insane level of control Ubisoft wants in the creation of the film.

Sony took scraps

Film site Vulture reported on various Hollywood industry folks dismissing the deal. ‘The whole Ubisoft/Sony deal is a waste of ink, paper and time,’ an unnamed talent agent in the film capital said. ‘The level of control Sony gave up means, effectively, that Assassin’s Creed will never – and I mean never – get made.’

The site reports that film studios Universal, Warner Bros and DreamWorks had all turned the project down due to how much control Ubisoft wanted.

Are you filmmakers, or are we filmmakers?

One of the studio heads who was unimpressed with Ubisoft’s demands said: ‘They want to be able to pull the plug on the whole movie’s development if they decide to. It’s ridiculous.’

Another studio boss admitted that he gets the desire for control on Ubisoft’s part due to Assassin’s Creed being their billion-dollar franchise, ‘But they’re not moviemakers, and the only way to make sure it’s a bad movie is to undervalue what movie studios do – and this is a deal that totally undervalues what movie studios do,’ he said.

Past reputation not so great?

In Ubisoft’s defense, past video game to film adaptations have, on average, been atrocious. Seriously. And who is to blame for that? Anyone video game fan who has sat through any of the Street Fighter Films or even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Doom will know just how bad video game movies really are.

Technology fans, extreme sport fans and video game fans alike would love to see an Assassin’s Creed film make the cut, but the signs aren’t promising that it will.

Photo: Sony

Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp has had a rocky 2011, with the company’s many setbacks looking set to take a heavy toll on its earnings for the year. The company has forecast that it will report an annual loss of $1.2 billion (£749m) as it has slashed sales target for its struggling television business, and the yen’s steady climb hits all time highs.

Sales forecasts cut everywhere

Not only is the company expecting to post a significant loss in 2011, it has also cut the sales targets of various product units. The company has done a downward revision for sales of televisions, compact cameras, Blu-ray players and even personal computers.

A further compounding factor of Sony’s woes is the continuing strengthening of the Japanese Yen, which is now at the highest it has been since the war. The company’s share price has taken an absolute hammering in the mania, dropping some 48 percent this year alone.

2012 in 2011

While many have forecast that the world is going to ‘end’ in 2012 – hint: it won’t – the team at Sony Corp must have felt like things were falling apart now already. The company has been hit with disaster after disaster, with this big Sony loss just being an accumulation of it all. The earthquake in Japan dented its operations significantly. The big PSN hack from a few months ago – and the subsequent smaller hacks in other Sony divisions – put a cloud over the company’s ability to keep users’ details safe. The capitulating television industry has dragged Sony’s results through the mud, and the uncertainty about the future viability of handheld video gaming platforms has put another dampener on what Sony was hoping would be a cash cow.

Reports of a full year Sony loss may well free the company up to get on with business, and turn things around in 2012. It’s a big loss, no doubt, but not so bad that everybody needs to panic. Yet.

Photo: John.Karakatsanis / Flickr

The writing has been on the wall for some time, and rumours gathered plenty of steam in recent weeks – Sony is buying Ericsson out of the Sony Ericsson joint venture for $1.47bn (£913m).

Logical step – Ericsson

In the press release announcing the deal, Ericsson President Hans Vestberg takes a very pragmatic view about being bought out of the decade-long joint venture. He says: ‘Ten years ago when we formed the joint venture, thereby combining Sony’s consumer products knowledge with Ericsson’s telecommunication technology expertise, it was a perfect match to drive the development of feature phones. Today we take an equally logical step as Sony acquires our stake in Sony Ericsson and makes it a part of its broad range of consumer devices.’

It’s a logical step in that it will allow Sony to behave much like Apple and Amazon does with its products, integrating hardware with media services. Unlike Apple and Amazon, though, Sony is actually a content owner, too, and not just a content distributor, through its ownership of Sony Music and Sony Pictures. Not to say Sony will necessarily exploit this opportunity fully, but it would be silly if they did not.

The next phase – Sony

Speaking on the Sony Ericsson JV buyout, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer’s words echo our sentiment, saying: ‘This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want. With a vibrant smartphone business and by gaining access to important strategic IP, notably a broad cross-license agreement, our four- screen strategy is in place.’ This four-screen strategy being televisions, smartphones, tablets and laptops.

What’s next?

Ericsson says it will focus on its core business of being a mobile communications infrastructure company. Sony, however, have the opportunity to show up to the mobile devices war with serious heat at both a hardware, and media services level. Insofar as the mobile OS platform they’re building on top of is solid, there’s very little reason they can’t be one of the top three players in the mobile devices industry.

Photo: artwork_rebel / Flickr

Sony Chief Security Officer Philip Reitinger on Tuesday warned that there was a ‘massive’ account breaching attempt made to across Sony Playstation Network and Sony Entertainment Online, which has resulted in those accounts being suspended for safe keeping in the interim.

What happened

In a blog post, Reitinger wrote: ‘We want to let you know that we have detected attempts on Sony Entertainment Network, PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment (“Networks”) services to test a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database. These attempts appear to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or other sources’

He continued, saying: ‘As a preventative measure, we are requiring secure password resets for those PSN/SEN accounts that had both a sign-in ID and password match through this attempt. If you are in the small group of PSN/SEN users who may have been affected, you will receive an email from us at the address associated with your account that will prompt you to reset your password.’

Welcome to the job

Reitinger was quick to point out that the affected 93,000 accounts made up less than 0.1 percent of all accounts across Sony Playstation Network and Sony Entertainment Online, so it should not be cause for too much concern. However, given Sony’s recent history with a massive PSN breach that happened earlier this year, even the smallest security breaches or attempted security breaches – as was the case here – will cause some sort of uproar.

Having said that, Sony Chief Security Officer Philip Reitinger was hired just last month and is already proving his worth to Sony for their faith – and likely sky-high salary. Welcome to the job, Mr. Reitinger. Given the year Sony has had, it’s safe to say it is not going to be easy.

Photo: Sony

A Sony executive has revealed that the company is not as boisterous about the usually robust, financial year-saving holiday sales as it would normally be, citing the Eurozone financial crisis, the global recession and Japan’s currency woes as the primary causes for concern.

Suck it up, and carry on

In an interview with Reuters, Sony Chief Financial Officer Masaru Koto said: ‘Looking at Europe and North America overall, the outlook is murky.’ He continued, saying: ‘We don’t see any reasons for optimism.’

He also insisted that the company had no fancy tricks to deflect the pains resulting from the recent strength of the Japan’s Yeng. With Sony relying on exports for most of its sales, as the Yeng strengthens against the dollar – and other currency – the revenue reaped from each sale when converted back to Yen is decreased, applying pressure on Sony’s earnings, too.

Video games and TV not helping

What’s more Sony’s long struggling television business is headed for its eight annual loss, a reality which is applying pressure on the Japanese consumer electronics giant to reconsider its strategy and place in the television industry.

Additionally, the traditionally strong video games industry – of which Sony is a major player through its Playstation brand – has had a soft year as competitors on various fronts have emerged in recent years. These competitors include the rise of smartphones and tablet devices as gaming platforms, as well as casual and social games played on platforms like Facebook.

When it rains, it pours

Sony has taken a pounding in 2011, with most anything that could go wrong having gone wrong. Earthquake? Check. A massive, reputation damaging, security breach? Check. And now, the one time of the year sales usually even out may prove elusive, too. A rough year, indeed.

Photo: louisvolant / Flickr

As technologies biggest players are all shaping up to make a play for the highly lucrative and highly competitive mobile devices market, it goes without saying that industry consolidation is inevitable. Reports have emerged that Sony is trying to buyout Ericsson in their Sony Ericsson JV, with the intent of assuming full control of the smartphone unit.

Months in the making

The report comes from Reuters, who were citing a source that had ‘direct knowledge of the matter’. What’s more, this is not the first time this has been mentioned, with a different source having told the publication that Sony Ericsson takeover talks had gotten under way as far back as June prior to the ending of the contract between the two firms later this month.

Elsewhere others report that Sony has made several attempts over recent years to take full control of the Sony Ericsson joint venture with little success. Part of that reason is attributable to the business being highly competitive in the space. Now, with much uncertainty about how Sony Ericsson will successfully navigate the new cutthroat smartphone market, where winners take all, it’s thought that this could be the very best opportunity Sony has had to pounce and follow through.

What do you think?

When approached for comment, both Sony and Ericsson refused to comment on the speculation. Nevertheless, the Sony Ericsson JV has recently been in the news much more than we’ve seen it all year after Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg’s far-reaching interview with the Wall Street Journal.  And therein he revealed that SE would be an exclusively smartphone company in the near future, since: ‘some 70% of our sales stem from smartphones and some time in the middle of next year, I estimate that we will be a complete smartphone company’. Given the margins and profit figures available for the ‘winner’ of the smartphone battle, it’s no surprise the Japanese titan wants to control the units destiny.

Photo: Sony

Even though Sony put its best talent from the company’s various divisions to work on the Sony tablet PCs, early indications are that the Japanese consumer electronics giant has come up short. Sentiment appears to be that the combination of a highly priced device coupled with uninspiring hardware could mean that the firms tablet PCs will be yet another high profile also-ran in the market.

So what is it?

The first of the two Sony tablet PCs to go on sale is the 9.4-inch Sony Tablet S. Available for pre-order right now, it runs on Google’s Android Honeycomb OS and is powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor. What differentiates it from other Android tablets on the market is integration with Sony’s network entertainment services, which include interests in music, films, and videogames. It is available with storage of 16GB or 32GB, which will retail for $500 and $600, respectively, and supports WiFi connectivity.

Yes, that is the price the 16GB and 32GB iPad with WiFi and 3G retails for. Analysts think this is no good.

You can’t price like the iPad and beat the iPad

‘Consumers want tablets, but they are not prepared to pay the same amount they’d pay for an iPad for something that’s not an iPad,’ said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Gartner. ‘Despite the brand and different design, with its price so close to the iPad, it will be challenging for Sony,’ she added.

The paltry sales of the HP TouchPad at its iPad-like price compared to meteoric sales when it was discounted, dramatically reinforces Milanesi’s point. The Sony Tablet S, on a technical front, isn’t making an impression on tech kingmakers either. Tim Stevens, who is the editor-in-chief of Engadget, says: ‘I honestly don’t think this is going to be the tablet that really catapults Sony into the lead on the Android front, which is where it needs to be if it wants to be No. 2 in the tablet market’

On to you then, Amazon. The big question is will Amazon’s tablet PCs do what many think the Sony Tablet S will not?

Photo: hozinja / Flickr

London rioters have run amok, looting several of the cities shops from the north right to the southern parts of the city, as well as damaging buildings and, in some cases, setting them alight. Among the many electronic goods shops ransacked, a Sony warehouse was set alight, potentially affecting shipments of DVDs and CDs.

Deliveries stalled

The three-story 20,000 square metre warehouse, based in Enfield, has been ablaze since late on Monday or early on Tuesday, during the London riots. Thankfully for the electronics giant, the Sony warehouse is insured. This insurance however, will not be sufficient for keeping production apace. Yoko Yasukochi, a Sony spokesperson based in Tokyo, said: ‘There will likely be some impact on deliveries.’

‘We cannot determine the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage yet because it’s not possible to enter the building,’ she continued, before adding that injuries as a result of the fire have not been reported.

A deep seated problem, or criminals looking for free electronics?

The London riots started after a peaceful protest against the police killing of a young Tottenham man named Mark Duggan turned violent, with many protesters looting stores and vandalising property. The protesting and looting loop soon spread all across the city, from the northern side to the southern side.

The British public, politicians and the media are all questioning whether the London riots, which are the worst the city has seen in decades, are attributable to deep seated racial issues being aired out in the wake of Duggard’s killing, or if it’s just a case of criminals using the protests as an opportunity to loot (read: steal) electronics from stores.

Many electronics stores have been ransacked, with a mobile phones store cleaned out, and pictures of London rioters running out of stores carrying televisions and iPads beamed all across the world.

Poor Sony

For the Japanese electronics giant, the burning down of the Sony warehouse is just the latest set back in a year where the company has been the victim of a high profile data hack, a major earthquake in its home nation of Japan, and poor earnings spurred on by big losses in its television unit. 2011 cannot end soon enough for the PS3 maker.