“Sony hasn’t had a good year and things are about to get much worse. With litigation against the firm proliferating at an impressive pace and the danger of both astronomical penalties and criminal filings increasing it is becoming increasingly likely that we may be seeing the last days of this once great firm,” Rob Enderle writes for Technology Pundits.
“In case you missed it, Sony’s record label Sony BMG issued CDs with rootkits that, when installed, open Windows up to a variety of nasty attacks. Currently there are two Trojans and one Bot in the wild exploiting these Sony sourced weaknesses. In addition there is one class action law suite that has been filed in California and two pending in New York and Italy, with the potential for as many as there are States and countries very high,” Enderle writes. “Sony’s response has been ‘who cares’ http://www.theregister.co.uk making it likely that judges are not going to be kind in either their approach or the level of pain they inflict on the firm. Odds are we will see executive changes shortly.”
Enderle writes, “Regardless, whether you agree with Dan Gillmor and want to make a point or simply want to protect yourself (getting service out of a bankrupt company can be really painful) avoiding Sony products would probably be a good idea right now.”
Enderle provides a set of links about the Sony fiasco here.
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Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Shockingly, Enderle’s making sense here about avoiding Sony products right now. Bankruptcy, however, is highly questionable.
Related articles:
Sony BMG ‘temporarily suspends’ production of music CDs with copy-protection scheme – November 11, 2005
Boycott Sony products: Sony music CDs can install kernel extensions on Mac OS X – November 10, 2005
Computer security firm: ‘Stinx’ virus hides within Sony’s copy protection scheme – November 10, 2005
Sony sued over copy-protected CDs – November 10, 2005
SonyBMG antics may well cause public to turn on them and turn many people onto Apple Macs – November 06, 2005
Report: Sony copy-protected CDs may hide Windows rootkit vulnerability – November 01, 2005
Analyst: Sony BMG’s boycott of Apple’s iTunes Music Store Australia won’t last long – October 24, 2005
Apple launches iTunes Music Store Australia – October 24, 2005
How to beat Apple iPod-incompatible Sony BMG and EMI copy-protected CDs – October 04, 2005
Japan music labels look to impose ‘iPod Tax’ while Sony, Warner still not signing with Apple iTunes – October 10, 2005
Why aren’t Sony, BMG, Warner, Victor making their artists’ music available on Apple’s iTunes Japan? – October 06, 2005
Sony and Warner holding out on Apple iTunes Music Store Australia – September 08, 2005
Musicians stage mutiny against Sony, defiantly offer music via Apple’s iTunes Music Store – August 10, 2005
Sony BMG and EMI try to force Apple to ‘open’ iPod with iPod-incompatible CDs – June 20, 2005
New Sony BMG copy-protected CDs lock out Apple iPod owners – June 01, 2005
Record company causes Apple to hit ‘pause’ on Australian iTunes Music Store – May 05, 2005
Sony going under would be very bad for consumers. It’s the only electronics firm that gives a damn about quality, looks and innovation. Their computers are every bit as gorgeous as Macs, even more so IMHO. It’s very Apple-like in its culture. Perhaps it’s time for the 2 to merge?
Beleaguered Sony.
Sony death knell # 1.
Don’t worry, Enderlie always gets these things wrong.
Time to start a “Sony death-knell counter?”
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Keep in mind sony makes about 90% of the broadcast decks used in NOCs around the world. Even if they stop selling to consumers their professional lines will keep them afloat for years to come…..
Woo-hoo! Sony’s gonna get what’s coming to them! Yeah– oh wait. Rob Enderle’s a bull$#!+ artist. Call me when the same thing is said by someone more believable, like, oh I dunno, anybody?
So, we all like Enderle now? Give me a break.
Remember that little thing called the Playstation? With the 100 million installed users?
What? Steve making Sony an offer they can’t refuse?
Wouldn’t that be sweet…
What is this … no “Enderly’s an idiot” bash from MDN accompanying his article? How strange. This couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that this time ol’ Rob is predicting the decline of an Apple competitor, instead of Apple itself. Could it?
Here’s a newsflash – Enderly was an idiot yesterday because he’s a crass, intellectually lazy, concept-stealing opportunist. And he is exactly the same today for exactly the same reason. There’s no insight into the situation here – Enderly wrote this sensationalist junk because he – finally – noticed the wave of indignation that’s cresting (after a long long build up he somehow missed) regarding Sony’s actions, and he’s trying to ride it so as to keep his reputation as an “analyst” from slipping in the public’s conciousness. And MDN is – by yet AGAIN linking to his drivel – helping to keep him in business!
Sony’s not going bankrupt in the lifetime of anyone who’s reading words today. They will suffer through there present troubles and, at some point, straighten up just enough to keep their board happy. I mean, come on – if GM and M$, with all their inbred problems, can still manage to stay listed on the NYSE after all these years, Sony certainly is in no danger of leaving this world any time soon.
Ignore Enderly – always. And if the ‘editors’ at MDN don’t get a clue soon, that might wind up being good advice regarding their scribblings too.
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Enderle’s prediction is really off…
Sony is still and will most likely remain #1 for settop gaming regardless of what M$ tries to do.
I concur with Mattlabs regarding Sony’s Pro line, they are #1.
I’m not defending Sony’s stupid music decisions but come-on this will not break them.
too bad Apple couldnt buy Sony to get the film and music assets or at least pull a “Microsoft at Macworld” and have steve appear on a giant monitor announcing a billion dollar investment in the company.
An Apple/Sony Playstation would frickin rule too.
Oh yeah, and Enderle is STILL an idiot. I dont care what he says, his past transgressions can’t make up for one news piece.
I mean after all, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
I, for one, am not dancing on Sony’s grave. I have a Sony HDTV and upscaling DVD player that I love. Over the years I’ve had numerous Sony products that served me well, were fairly priced and lasted a long time.
As much as I love Apple (4 Macs and 2 iPods in our house), I’d like to Sony get its mojo back. More viable players = more innovation = better selection and prices.
One division of Sony made a stupid mistake. They should own up to it, stop distributing the rootkit and publish the rootkit deinstall program on their public website.
TimT
Sony, the manufacturing giant, and SonyBMG, the music company making a mess of itself lately, are not the same entity. The latter is co-owned by the former alongside Bertelsmann AG. None of these companies are going away anytime soon.
Please correct me if I am wrong…
Doesn’t SONY own the publishing rights to the Beatles Catalogue from MJ not being able to pay his debts?
If Sony’s Music division needs money, wouldn’t Jobs be willing to buy the Beatle’s catalogue from them?
It might be a huge bargaining tool with Apple Corps.
If SONY wanted to sell it’s music division, Apple should buy it from SONY. This way Apple can also keep the whole $0.99 for each song in the catalogue. And then Apple can tell the other labels, it has enough songs to continue with iTMS even if they pull out. The other labels would rather stay with Apple than lose the revenue by starting their own dl service.
I would say buy Sony products if you want to or feel them to be of superior quality. Imagine if everyone didn’t buy Apple in the late 90’s just in case they went under? There’d be very little of the Apple we know today. Think carefully, Sony are a massive company…they’ll have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Sony should blame the whole mess on non-secure, virus-prone Windows OS. Then announce a major shift to Mac based systems, which have proven impervious to the bugs in their hi-jacked CDs!
$26 billion in shareholder’s equity, and around $22 billion in cash, short-term investments and accounts receivable.
Yes, they’ll be going bust any decade now!
I can’t help but wonder what Enderle’s home town does for an idiot since he left.
Isn’t one of Sony’s Problems how their divisions are so disconnected that they don’t even know what each other is doing? This seems to be a problem with their music label which I don’t think can take down the whole company.
BTW, they’re working on the basis that they’re going to lose $86 million this year, and the same next year.
So in another 260 years, they’ll be gone.
Odyssey67 and similar TWITS
Learn to read:
MDN quote: “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Shockingly, Enderle’s making sense here about avoiding Sony products right now. Bankruptcy, however, is highly questionable.”
TWIT quote: “What is this … no “Enderly’s an idiot” bash from MDN accompanying his article? How strange. This couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that this time ol’ Rob is predicting the decline of an Apple competitor, instead of Apple itself. Could it?”
Enderle is a pompous TWIT, and MDN did not give him a break…
KillBill:
To Odyssey67’s defense – I also missed MDN’s take at first. Ever since MDN started placing that advertising paragraph between the story and the MDN take, I have occasionally skipped right over it, especially if their take is smaller than the advertisement.
Just a thought: Window’s EULA must prohibit users from suing. If not, where are the class action lawsuits against them for delivering an inherently vulnerable OS?
Enderle IS still the village idiot.. Sony is just fine although it HAS lost its way. They need to sell Sony BMG for a start and refocus on what they can do WELL.
Also, bankruptcy does not mean the end of a company.
Enderle is _______________________ .
(insert derogatory term)
Oh for goodness sake. MDN, please tel me you’re making this up.
No-one is that thick surely.