SONY: What is Going on Over There?

Last week was a bit crazy for poor Sony.  They started the new month with by announcing a brand new CEO, Kazuo Hirai, who formally headed up Sony’s Consumer Products & Services Division. This reshuffling of Sony's board of directors will see Hirai moving up to CEO April 1.  Sony has been responsible for a great deal of innovation in its lifetime but of late the tech giant has been experiencing difficult markets.  Competition from companies such as Samsung and Apple has hampered the company’s growth. 

Kazuo Harai (by Ko Sasaki for The Wall Street Journal)

A leadership change may be just what Sony needs.  Last week poor Sony also announced a massive $2.1billion loss in the third quarter.  This seems even more incredible since last year they posted almost a billion dollar net profit the year before.  I am not an economist but that sounds like a $3 billion loss to me.   Sony blamed flooding in Thailand as well as loses in the Products and Services division which lost half of that (Hmmm maybe Hirai isn’t the best choice?).

I kid of course, Hirai was instrumental in the success of the PS3 in North America and you can’t help but like him when he presents at E3.  Hirai is looking to make changes to the corporate structure and do some serious cost cutting. What that means is a little unclear right now but Sony needs to make some bold moves if they want to maintain their legacy of innovation and reputation of being an exceptional electronics manufacturer.  The good news is that Hirai recognises this which is half the battle:

“The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.”

For those of you concerned for about to be former CEO Howard Stringer, don't worry he is just moving to a different chair on the board.  I for one am looking forward to the changes Hirai might bring about.  There is hope on the horizon for Sony and I really hope that translates into cool new gadgets for all of us.

In slightly unrelated news but still on the topic of “Sony: What is Going on Over There?” there is the news of the PSN, or PlayStation Network getting a makeover.  In an effort to streamline user accounts across Sony, PlayStation is rebranding their user network accounts to the “Sony Online Entertainment” accounts.  It will incorporate the PlayStation Network, Video Unlimited, and Music Unlimited into one system.

The change shouldn't affect users at all really but that doesn’t stop the panic in the gaming community. The PSN has been giving users some issues of late with extended maintenance sessions.  Hopefully the SEN will resolve some of these issues.  The PSN has been criticized for connection issues and a lack of features in comparison to Xbox.  It is free people, remember that! But even I think that is not an excuse for bad service. This rebranding is an opportunity to turn that around and get support from the player back.