Sony lost US$6.4 Billion

[ricohflex]

Read this.

In the early 1980s, the world was Japan's oyster. They were super rich and rolling in money from unreal inflated property prices. In early 1980s, the world wanted to buy Japanese TVs, cars, electrical appliances. Their products were in great demand. Remember Nikon FM2 in 1982?
Now the world has changed. South Korea, Taiwan and China give great competition in manufacturing.
Samsung Smart TVs, LG fridges, Hyundai cars, Apple iPhones made by Foxconn in PRC, computers and motherboards by Taiwan's Asus.
But in 2012 Japan is still streets ahead in technology relative to these 3 countries. China still got decades of catching up to do.
Made in Japan currently still means something.

Give you an idea of a company's hubris when they were still doing well. See this. Customer's pleas to ask Sony to make something, so that they can buy it from Sony. The Petition to Sony Requesting that NetMD Provide Audio Uploading to PC

Uploading audio files to and from the PC was the killer application.
They could have sewn up the world market for personal music device long before the iPod. Handed it to Apple on a silver platter.

 

[UncleFai]

"make.profit"

"can't.believe"

Oh well, empires come, empires go. That's the way it is.

 

[diver-hloc]

Nokia might be next...

 

[yrh0413]

I think Blackberry will say bye-bye before Nokia. Companies come and go, series of wrong decisions ultimately cause the fall of an empire.

Remember Kodak?

 

[kei1309]

haha. but remember... Sony is actually bigger than you think it is. it might be actually quite some time before they actually fall

 

[Canonised]

Samsung is the new SONY

 

[Rashkae]

It's ironic that the main area where Sony is losing money is with the TVs... They are legends for their TVs, but I think they priced themselves at too much of a premium. Many Sony TVs with similar features, picture quality, etc, cost almost double the equivalent from Samsung, LG, etc. This even at a time when Samsung and Sony shared the same LCD panel! So most consumers voted with their wallets.

 

[snowc]

Samsung is the new Nokia

 

[Knighthunter]

I think Blackberry will say bye-bye before Nokia. Companies come and go, series of wrong decisions ultimately cause the fall of an empire.

Remember Kodak?

Blackberry is big in Indonesia, as long as they can maintain it they will not sink easily.

 

[Rashkae]

Blackberry is big in Indonesia, as long as they can maintain it they will not sink easily.

Nope... Indonesia is not a big enough market to sustain a company the size of RIM.

 

[Atarandas]

Yeah I am sad they are shutting down their Bravia TV, i find them more durable than Samsung, but it makes more sense to pass the pie back to Samsung , who is so dominant in the screen and panel market.

They also announced a 10k job cuts =S , and refocus on imaging , gaming and mobile. I await the PS4 with high expectations lol.

 

[ninelives]

It's ironic that the main area where Sony is losing money is with the TVs...

this is the new era, many people dont buy TV already since they can do everything with computer. According to a research/survey , Prior to 90s, every household got a TV. Now, every household got a computer.

 

[vaga2681]

Nope... Indonesia is not a big enough market to sustain a company the size of RIM.

Indonesia is the 4th highest population country in the world behind China, India and US. So its really a very big market.

 

[cks2k2]

Few years back I had the privilege of watching Eric B. Kim (no, not the street photog) speak live via webcast. He used to be the main marketing guy for Samsung and credited for helping build-up Samsung.

Basically what he said (this is from my memory):
No one knows Samsung but everyone knows Sony - they make the best TVs in the world. We tried to compete with them to make the best TVs in the world. We could do it but we lost money doing that. So instead of making the best TV and sell it at a high price, we made a "good enough" TV and sold it at a good price. Consumers loved it. Not everyone needs or can afford the best TV in the world.

 

[weiz87]

Blackberry is big in Indonesia, as long as they can maintain it they will not sink easily.

8 of out 10 use blackberry in thailand as well..

 

[hanzohattori]

Indonesia is the 4th highest population country in the world behind China, India and US. So its really a very big market.

Sony sells worldwide.. and yet they're still losing money. Does that tell you something?

 

[kei1309]

Yeah I am sad they are shutting down their Bravia TV, i find them more durable than Samsung, but it makes more sense to pass the pie back to Samsung , who is so dominant in the screen and panel market.

They also announced a 10k job cuts =S , and refocus on imaging , gaming and mobile. I await the PS4 with high expectations lol.

what??? they're shutting down BRAVIA?

 

[TWmilkteaTW]

Just hope the Imaging department lives on.
lol..

 

[dniwkh]

If not for their PS3, I think sony die already.

 

[ricohflex]

According to this article, the digital imaging division is not safe. http://fstoppers.com/editorial-can-sonys-digital-imaging-division-restore-profits
At the top end, Sony cannot compete with Nikon and Canon DSLRs. At the bottom end, Sony digital cameras has to compete with other cheaper brands.
This is not helped by their decision to make less models with Carl Zeiss lenses. Sony is ruthless in cutting off their product-lines that they want to terminate.

For PS3, the problem is selling it at a loss. http://www.pcworld.com/article/127906/sony_losing_big_money_on_ps3_hardware.html