At the 25th annual conference of media moguls hosted by investment banking firm Allen and Co. last Thursday in Sun Valley, Idaho, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer called Apple CEO Steve Jobs “greedy.”
“According to one audience member, Stringer said it’s funny that Jobs accuses record companies of greed because they want to get paid for music downloads. Stringer said Jobs, who just launched the iPhone, is the ‘greedy’ one because he wants a world where only he makes money,” Richard Johnson reports for The New York Post’s Page Six.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacVicta” for the heads up.]
Apparently, Sir Howard doesn’t appreciate having his ass handed to him repeatedly by Steve Jobs. It’s not Steve Jobs’ fault that for years Sony couldn’t get out of its own way (because they greedily wanted everything: devices, formats, DRM, and owning the content) and got run over by Apple’s iPod+iTunes. This obnoxious behavior certainly does not reflect well upon the knighthood. Nor is it a proper way to begin selling your new clock radios and boomboxes with iPod docks, Howie.
Our advice, less jet-setting to tony mogul powwows where you insert your foot into your prodigious mouth and more attention to business; you know, try some new things like making non-exploding notebook batteries, foregoing root-kit installs on audio CDs, using standard formats, not overcharging for your TVs, etc.
You go MDN! I agree with your take 100%.
I agree! From a company that hasn’t had a new hit product since the 1980’s. Sony; so last century!!!
Envy is a terrible Sin and Howie is drowning in it.
“Sony…the one and only.”
bwahahahahahahahah!
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that ‘greed’—for lack of a better word—is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms—greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge—has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed—you mark my words—will not only save Apple, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
Honestly, how is SJ being greedy here? They make next to nothing on each song sold. Where does the greed come in?
5 star take MDN.
LOL, a CEO calling another one greedy. LOL!!!!
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LOL!!!!
I do wish Apple used a few Cell proccessors in a special issue Mac Pro. Perhaps a Cell/Intel hybrid.
These Cell processsors totally kick @$$.
One $600 PS3 whips a $6000 OctoPro.
Such a shame and a scam.
“he wants a world where only he makes money”
plus his shareholders (he has the jet remember), plus AT&T, plus artists, plus software developers (hey, that’s me!), plus ISPs, plus iPod accessory makers, plus… you get the picture.
Sounds like this knight is envious he isn’t sitting at the round table.
Since has Jobs objected to record companies being paid for downloads? What a bunch of BS. Jobs is trying to keep these guys, who totally ruined the reputation of their own brands, from killing the goose that is currently laying the golden eggs… i.e., iTunes. By all accounts, Apple doesn’t earn much from the store; less than the record companies do. Jobs understands, where apparently the Stringers of the world do not, that there is a very distinct pricing point at which a buyer will cease to pay for something that he/she can find and download for free off the web. People want to be honest and pay for their product, but they also don’t want to be foolishly milked for obscene profits that support extravagant lifestyles of dickheads. It’s at this point where the revolutionary in all of us takes control and overwhelms the honest consumer we want to be.
I have a word to for Sony CEO Stringer, “Idiot.”
“he wants a world where only he makes money”
So basically, Sony’s CEO is saying that he can’t compete. Because the only way Apple would be the only one making money is if they have the best products, and everyone buys those products. Sounds like a good way to gain shareholder trust Mr. Stringer!
Thank You Steve! We Love You and Sir Jonathan!
MDN Magic Word: gone… like… Microsoft gone like the fart in the wind!
Pata kattilaa soimaa. Sorry don’t know how to translate, but it’s something like “Pot blaiming the pan”.
Meaning same as “thief blaming a counterfeiter”.
greed |grēd| noun intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or food. I prefer love, sure you can love money, fine,… but if that supersedes your love of people, best of luck being truly happy. On your death bed, who won’t be reviewing your account balance, but your relationships with people, hopefully loving relationships.
Let me get this straight:
Sony’s CEO called someone else greedy?!
This is the guy heading a company that sold “mp3” players for years that wouldn’t play mp3s, a company that installed root kits on thousands of computers, a company that makes a new proprietary format for each device that it comes out with?!
To be fair, Sony had some good “hit” products over the years (Playstation & PS2). Regardless, I’ve been a Sony boycotter for a couple years and am not missing anything. Their business practice has been more and more MS in recent years.
A man with an annual salary of one dollar?
What a greedy bastard, that Jobs is!
=P
Doncha love it when one billionaire calls another one greedy?
I have to disagree with an earlier statement, greed is not good, as it is internally reflective. Desiring to achieve success through accomplishemts is external. Sony is jealous of Apple’s success. There’s plenty of business room for both of them. I love my Sony XBR lcd tv, and I love my mac and iPhone. Let’s compete fairly and not stoop to namecalling.
Without RTA, from the excerpt it seems the author missed the proper “greedy” analogy. I think SJ balked at paying “royalties” on every iPod purchased, NOT on music downloads.
My first reaction when seeing that Apple’s deal with ATT required “kickbacks” for every service plan was “Is that really much different than the music labels wanting a cut of iPod sales?” Yes, I know it’s somewhat different, but it’s still getting paid for a service you’re not providing.
“It’s not Steve Jobs’ fault that for years Sony couldn’t get out of its own way (because they greedily wanted everything: devices, formats, DRM, and owning the content)…”
I would not attribute their problem to greed. The problem is that the technology division and the content division were at odds, with the content division wearing the hat of the 1990s music label, unable to face the fact that the technology division would actually keep progressing.
Sony is, in some ways, a less focused version of Apple. Devices? Apple does that. Formats? Apple does that. DRM? Apple does that. Content? Thank god Apple does not do that. Those things are not necessarily bad, but Sony lacked a few things necessary to make this combination fly, but one of the main things is a singular vision. The inability to utilize the advantage of conent derives from this. When the phrase “digital music” makes the music division want to hide in a cave and figure out how to make people pay for multiple copies of a track, that is a lack of vision. Although it may be fatally flawed in the long term, this should have at least provided a short term advantage because there should have been no negotiation – the music service could have been anything it wanted to. Instead, it appeared to be a complete bastardization of two distinct visions for what downloads should be. And, instead of a line of iPods, you get the NW-### and “the bean” whatever number-letter combo names their players have. “Man, I’m really excited about the E-series!” I’m not huge into the idea of branding, etc, but there should be enough coherence to allow buzz to develop. Like “walkman”.
That is not to say that not having their own OS or software divisions did not hurt them….
i actually just sold my sony hi-def camera, and i sold my sony tv last year. i just don’t like the brand anymore, and this helps solidify my attitude towards sony because of their sour-grapes attitude.
incidentally, i sold my camcorder because i was afraid it would crap-out like my other sony camera did shortly after i bought it. they are making junk now, and i’m buying other stuff. (canon to be precise.)
Sony isn’t making any money, so therefore Sony isn’t greedy.
Talk trash with your upcoming touch-screen Walkman phone, Stringer!! Do ya got one?? I think you don’t, by your comments. Make the best product…make the best money!