Media Production Mentoring

Free online film school designed with beginning filmmakers in mind.


Why Isn't Sony Winning?

I just got my latest Sony product catalog in the mail today.

Granted, I haven't been a big fan of Sony since that day in film school when I tried to capture a MiniDV tape shot on a Sony camera that wouldn't play on my Canon.

Made me angry.

But I know people who have sworn by their cameras, own their computers, use their software, play their consoles, and I've even watched some of their movies. And as I flipped through the catalog and noticed that they make everything except an operating system, I asked myself: Why isn't Sony winning?

I read part of a book that praised Sony for their business acumen, solid practices and even great products. So why don't we hear about them? Sure, a few of their products are commonly mentioned, but never with the brand.


Do you ever hear someone talk about the Sony Playstation the way people mention the Apple iPhone? Why the brand disconnect? And why isn't Vegas mentioned more often? From everything I hear, the software works great and is dirt cheap.

Curious, especially after Apple's continued rise, I googled "Sony profits" and found article after article that talked about the 90% decrease they had in 2008. I can't imagine this year's going much better.

Just like Apple, Sony makes hardware and software and is proprietary. They have their fingers in much more than Apple producing major gaming consoles, movies as well as cameras, phones, mp3 players and more.

What is Sony missing?

It's not the OS. Windows is on far more computers.

Are they missing a hip brand? A development platform? An "it" gadget?

I thought writing this out would give me some clarity and a guess as to the answer. But it's not. I can't figure out why Sony isn't winning...

 ~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor


-)_-. said...

Hah...I experienced that same capture problem, recorded on a sony,captured on a canon, and was completely baffled as to why on earth it wasn't working. Of course I soon remembered what you had said about Sony being proprietary and became very frustrated about having to take two more steps to complete my project.

Of course this is not why Sony isn't winning. Apple is just as proprietary and people love their stuff.

Could it be marketing? Have you noticed that just about every contest out there from some local club or church event to large scale company contests give away iPods?!?! I seem to believe that Apple puts crazy amounts of effort on making its stuff "hip" just look at its marketing adds. The hip young dude vrs the nerdy office space guy that needs his stapler.

Sony seems to
A. Not market as much
B. Not present a clear marketing scheme

Then there is the PS3 which was a huge mistake but we will save that for another time.


Luke Holzmann said...

Good thoughts. Thanks for sharing!

Marketing/branding is certainly a big part of this...