“Sony said Friday that it will strengthen ties between its portable audio division and the struggling Connect digital music download unit, an iTunes rival launched in early 2004,” John Borland reports for CNET News.com. “The Connect service was Sony’s entry into the digital music market that was, and still is, dominated by Apple Computer’s iTunes. However, since its launch, Connect has gained little traction with consumers, while Sony’s portable audio players have been overshadowed by the explosive success of Apple’s iPod.”
“The download unit, now renamed the Connect Business Division, will be placed officially under Hiroshi Yoshioka, who oversees the portable audio division. In that position, Yoshioka will be ‘best placed to reallocate resources and promote both the portable audio and content distribution business,’ a representative said in an e-mail,” Borland reports. “Sony has felt Apple’s rise in the portable audio business particularly keenly, given that it was its own Walkman line of products that essentially invented the space beginning in 1979.”
Full article here.
Years too late, Sony. It’s over. Concentrate on TVs and other businesses from which you have a chance of profiting.
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