Sony Wants Bite Out Of Apple iPod

[Weaves]

Sounds encouraging to me. I like the part about not having anything to compete with the iPod mini (5Gb). Maybe some high capacity HI-MD's will help our cause.

Weaves

Just read this on CNN:

Sony wants bite out of Apple iPod

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Don't call it a comeback yet, but Sony Corp. has a new lineup of digital music players that are slicing into the popularity of Apple Computer's iPod device in Japan.

Apple is still squashing Sony in Europe and North America, where the iPod has achieved iconic status and a big selling point is the availability of iTunes, an easy-to-use music downloading service that has not yet been launched in Japan.

While Apple remains the top seller of hard drive players in Japan, there has been a decisive momentum swing in the Japanese market, with Sony securing the top position for memory-type players in both May and June, knocking Apple and its iPod shuffle device into second place.

Translating that success overseas will not be easy, but boosting sales in Japan is an important first step for Sony as it tries to reclaim the lead in the portable audio market it helped pioneer with the Walkman cassette player 26 years ago.

"There is no question that Sony has the potential of being much more competitive," said Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, a U.S.-based research firm. "It could emerge as a more formidable rival to Apple over the next three years."

Launched worldwide in March and April, Sony's new lineup of music players includes several models equipped with flash memory chips able to store 256, 512 megabytes or 1 gigabyte of data, and two players with hard disk drives.

Of those, Sony's gains in the Japanese market have come primarily from one line of flash memory players that have won over consumers with a long-lasting battery -- it can play up to 50 hours on one charge -- and a stylish design.

Resembling a small perfume bottle, the players have a rounded body that strikes a sharp contrast with the shuffle's rectangular shape and flat front. Sony's players also feature a display to view what music is playing, while the iPod shuffle does not.

"Design is one of the main factors consumers now look at when buying a portable audio player. They have become like accessories, so having something that looks good is a must," said Shinichi Iwata, who oversees marketing of the Walkman in Japan.

Sony's players are more expensive than the shuffle, but enough consumers seem willing to pay the extra price.

According to market research company BCN, Sony's share of the Japanese market for flash memory players went from just 4 percent in March to 16 percent in April and shot up to 27 percent in May and June. Apple's share has fallen to under 20 percent.

Trying to connect

Sony has not issued official sales forecasts for the new flash memory players, but Iwata said demand in Japan had so far been double what the company initially expected.

Sales of the hard drive units have been less impressive, but that is not surprising as Sony's only players on the market are 20 and 30 gigabyte (GB) models, leaving it without a product to go head-to-head with Apple's hot-selling iPod mini device.

The mini comes in a 4 GB or 6 GB model, holding 1,000 or 1,500 songs -- just about right for many consumers who don't feel the need to carry around their entire CD collection. Sony players, for example, can store more than 10,000 songs.

Sony has made its new Walkmans compatible with the MP3 format, meaning consumers can now download and play back more common MP3 files. Some previous models had been compatible only with Sony's proprietary Atrac format, which hindered sales.

Despite the improvements, analysts say Sony's new Walkmans have not sold as well in Europe and North America and several hurdles remain to its success in those markets.

One is Apple's entrenched position. According to industry data, Apple holds 60 to 70 percent of the U.S. digital music player market and is also very strong in Europe.

Several low-cost Asian makers are also fighting for a piece of the market, which researcher In-Stat predicts will nearly quadruple to 104 million units a year by 2009.

Among the top players are Singapore's Creative Technology Ltd., South Korea's Reigncom Ltd's iRiver, and Rio, owned by D&M Holdings Inc.

Another challenge for Sony will be developing more appealing jukebox software and a download service that consumers perceive to be just as easy to navigate as iTunes. Sony has not had much success so far with its "Connect" online music store.

"Based on the hardware they look very sharp. But Sony's big challenge has always been to create software that is easy to use right out of the box," said Jon Erensen, a U.S.-based analyst at research firm Gartner who tracks the music player market.

Erensen said lack of an iTunes online store aimed at users in Japan was a major reason behind Sony's success in its home market. That could change if Apple, as a newspaper reported, unleashes iTunes in Japan next month. Apple declined comment.

The job of coming up with a cohesive strategy to overtake Apple will fall on the Connect Company, a unit established by Sony late last year to bring together disparate software and hardware operations into one entity with common goals.

Analysts say prospects for gains in market share are much greater since Howard Stringer became Sony's new chief executive last month promising to break down the "silo walls" around individual business units.

Sony's problems in the portable audio market have been widely blamed on infighting between music and hardware divisions over antipiracy issues and a general lack of focus. Both the PC and Walkman units put out their own hard drive players last year.

"Because Stringer comes out of the entertainment business, he understands the ramifications of them losing the digital Walkman market to Apple. And I am convinced that he is obsessed with trying to beat Apple at their own game," Bajarin said.

*Discuss accordingly.

Edited July 14, 2005 by Ishiyoshi

[sallymae_hogsby]

[quote=...trying to beat Apple at their own game

[veezhun]

its amazing what a little common sense can do to an organization even as big and powerful as sony.

i have always wanted to ask nobyuki idei one thing.. the DRM in HI MD makes no sense. for eg. if i wanted to pirate illegal mp3 from one computer to another, simply copy them using windows explorer and trasnfer to another machine (i know you cannot playback such files)

so why not allow such files to play on the HI MD?? maybe mr stringer can see the utter uselessness of such stoopid DRM schemes and go after apple in a big way..

[greenmachine]

If they only had a the same HQ recording capabilities as MD, they would be much more useful...

[Andicillo]

If they only had a the same HQ recording capabilities as MD, they would be much more useful...

←

Common sense is just what they need.. I would give them a 1TB common sense HiMd. I doubt, however, that they would know how to use it.

[hobgoblin]

this in combo with the new m series of minidisc equipment i fear that the future of walkman brand equipment will be hd3 revisions and those cute oled flash players...

minidisc is going to way of the pro digital recorder completly, no more trying to be a mp3 player for that system...

[Syrius]

I hate to agree with Hobgobling, but I think it's the truth. However, it might not be possible to beat Apple at its own game. How do you improve on the Ipod's simple and functional design?

[hobgoblin]

simple, you dont. what you do instead is give the kids all kinds of bling bling functions to play with

its funny realy that a brick like the ipod is hailed for its simple and functional design. yet it seems that the shuffle isnt selling to well as it dont have a disply

http://asono.com/ anyone?

i guess im one of those tech geeks that will never understand the concept of clean lines...

[MDGB2]

You can't make a format 'professional only' without a nice DECK!

Bah! Hogwash!

To give the iPlop a good kicking, Sony needs to 'chav up' it's range to appeal to the younger market (Oooo.....shiny thing.....).

SCRAP ALL DRM, copyright, protection etc. on the format. The reason CD-R is so popular is because it has none of these restrictions. Who are Sony trying to protect? Record companies? Oh, my heart bleeds for them. They charge £14 for a CD that probably cost less than 50p to make and the artist only gets a tiny amount of the money.

PC drives, internal as well as external with full drag n drop capability.

Also, an advert campaign. ANY adverts! Maybe one along the lines of:

"Exposure to iPod may cause impotence......... )

(Although I'm sure Apple's Lawyers' would say something about that.... )

Edited July 16, 2005 by MDGB2

[Syrius]

Nah, I'm sure they became impotent themselves while working for Apple. Impotent, but rich.

[djtodd]

To give the iPlop a good kicking, Sony needs to 'chav up' it's range to appeal to the younger market (Oooo.....shiny thing.....).

SCRAP ALL DRM, copyright, protection etc. on the format.  The reason CD-R is so popular is because it has none of these restrictions.  Who are Sony trying to protect? Record companies? Oh, my heart bleeds for them. They charge £14 for a CD that probably cost less than 50p to make and the artist only gets a tiny amount of the money.

PC drives, internal as well as external with full drag n drop capability.

Also, an advert campaign. ANY adverts! Maybe one along the lines of:

"Exposure to iPod may cause impotence.........     )

The day they make me look like a pikey for having MD is the day I buy an iPod!

Seriously though, the above changes would make all the difference in the world.

[atrain]

what the world need now is a burberry 1 gig blank.

[Bill Jommo]

Minidisc needs better marketing on behalf of the 1gb "removable storage" device. Apple has had a huge attack with ipod ads everywhere. Most people have no idea what to get, and what the MD is. Sony needs to push the "ability to record from anything" approach. Like OLD LPS' and the sort. Whenever I show off the MD most people(who have ipods) have no idea this even exists.-

Is there an LCD remote available for the MZ RH10? Sony should have added EL remote. that would have helped sales for unit.

[atrain]

there is/was an el remote with the japan version.

[Bill Jommo]

there is/was an el remote with the japan version.

←

Do you have a link where I might aquire one of these items?

I do not see any ads in Mainstream America. Anyone recognize a crazy Japanese ad for dancing people with MD's? I guess most of us are above that. Recording train sounds and noises. -

[yuff]

well at least where i live an ipod mini is 350 bucks minimum... i payed 250 for a hi-md (the silver one with "jog knob" or w/e")

and sice it came with 1 gig... and with 100 bucks you can buy 10 more gig mds...

seems like a much better deal doesnt it? 11 gigs vs 5?

and large ipods are what 20 gigs? their 500 bucks here... so thats 20 gigs against 26 or so

so it is a MUCH better deal to replace a ipod mini... but with a regular one, it is not as great.... never mind everyones fav batteries in those ipods ~_^

Edited July 26, 2005 by yuff

[Icecreamfarmer]

well at least where i live an ipod mini is 350 bucks minimum... i payed 250 for a hi-md (the silver one with "jog knob" or w/e")

and sice it came with 1 gig... and with 100 bucks you can buy 10 more gig mds...

seems like a much better deal doesnt it? 11 gigs vs 5?

and large ipods are what 20 gigs? their 500 bucks here... so thats 20 gigs against 26 or so

so it is a MUCH better deal to replace a ipod mini... but with a regular one, it is not as great.... never mind everyones fav batteries in those ipods ~_^

←

they just have to make ads. i`ve seen one ad for the first generation hi-md in the netherlands on MTV and that was it

[saaron]

yet it seems that the shuffle isnt selling to well as it dont have a disply

Not sure where this impression is coming from. I keep reading that since introduction the shuffle is the leading flash-based player despite lacking a display, and frankly I cannot see the need for one on a device intended for random play.

Clearly Sony can only blame themselves for their problems: keeping ATRAC proprietary and licensing rather than giving away MD technology meant that it would stay a niche product. Forget iPods; if people weren't buying them they'd probably buy MP3 compatible portable CD players and load up CD-Rs with MP3s -- it would still be easier than using SonicStage to fill MDs and you wouldn't have the DRM issues associated with either iPod (easy to get around) or MD. Sadly by keeping the electronics arm in-house it's been hobbled by the entertainment wing of the company and I don't see any way that will meaningfully change as long as the company keeps it's current structure. I can see them dumping DRM restrictions on analogue input, but no way that's going to happen with digital unless they want to sell only Sony-owned product via Connect, which would definitely look weak compared to iTunes.

Edited August 11, 2005 by saaron