Sony must still control the experience on PCs if it sells.
- While all the attention is on Microsoft, it appears that Sony is looking to quietly get rid of its PC business.
- This is not a big deal in itself but if one considers the ecosystem that Sony is trying to build, this is a problem.
- Sony is the only Japanese company with a chance to make it in the rapidly changing world of consumer electronics.
- To that end, it is trying to build an ecosystem where users live their Digital Lives on Sony hardware and use Sony software and services.
- Front and centre of this strategy are Playstation and Sony Mobile but there is much more than these to having a successful ecosystem.
- To make it really work, the experience needs to extend from mobile to tablet to PC to television.
- Apple does this by controlling hardware and software whereas Google does it by controlling the applications.
- The only way Sony has a chance is by making great looking hardware which also works very well.
- Once users have bought the boxes, Sony has a chance to entice users into its software and services.
- This is a big ask at the best of times and this will become more difficult if the PC business is no longer under Sony’s control.
- Everyone thinks that the PC is dead but the reality is that this is very far from the truth.
- PCs still ship around 80m units a quarter and remain the key tools for the creation of content.
- Therefore the PC remains an important part of the ecosystem and ditching the business will leave Sony with a hole in its proposition.
- Hence, what it should actually be doing is investing in its PC proposition with to gain market share while everyone else is distracted and looking for the exit.
- The best of both worlds will be an arrangement where someone else manufactures the devices but where Sony maintains control over hardware design and the user experience.
- This would allow Sony to keep PCs within its fledging ecosystem while at the same time divesting itself of a problem.
- This is what I will be looking for.
- A straight sale of PCs and focusing just on smartphones and tablets is a recipe for failure.
- I am confident that Hirai-san understands the ecosystem concept and how it stretches across all devices.
- This is critical to the recovery of Sony and a straight exit from PCs will put a meaningful dent in my confidence in any recovery.
Blog Comments
Tatilsever
February 6, 2014 at 9:05 pm
>”PCs still ship around 80m units a quarter and remain the key tools for the creation of content.”
Professionally created content plays on all devices, so whether pros use Macs, Sony PCs, Dell PCs or Avid stations make no difference to any ecosystem beyond some branding opportunity. Apple has been using that branding opportunity fairly effectively, but Sony uses a commodity OS, so it does not have the same opportunity.
User generated content is mostly limited to office software, storing and editing photos and videos. The most popular is Instagram and the most sophisticated is Photoshop. Neither of these help Sony form an ecosystem through its PC division. Sony would be better off pushing its video editing software, with its core of already satisfied users, as part of an ecosystem that runs on any device, rather than selling commodity boxes running commodity OS inside a nicely designed box. Tying Playstation, connected TVs, Blu-Ray players and HIFis together through apps running on Windows, iOS and Android are far better basis for an ecosystem than holding on to low margin PCs.
windsorr
February 7, 2014 at 1:53 pm
“Tying Playstation, connected TVs, Blu-Ray players and HIFis together through apps running on Windows, iOS and Android are far better basis for an ecosystem than holding on to low margin PCs.”
Exactly but to control the PC piece Sony will have to exert some control over what goes onto the PC when it is shipped. Thats is why it must have some control. It doesent have to make the PCs itself but there has to be some involvement otherwise the ecosystem offering starts to break down.
tatilsever
February 10, 2014 at 8:28 pm
I am sure a program that is installed by default makes it easier to integrate customers into the ecosystem, but considering its minuscule market share, Sony needs to find ways to get its customers for other pieces of the ecosystem to download such programs anyways. Adding a few customers here and there who do not need to put any effort into downloading isn’t going to make much of a difference. If the division has not been profitable for a long while and it is not building market share, I think it is a good decision to get out of the business all together.