“Sony Corp. said on Thursday it is developing a video-capable Walkman, playing catch-up with Apple Computer Inc.’s market-leading iPod,” Reuters reports.
Reuters reports, “Sony created the market for portable music players with its epoch-making Walkman more than a quarter of a century ago, but in recent years it has trailed far behind Apple, whose iPod holds more than half the global digital media player market.”
Reuters reports, “‘We are developing a product that handles images, but I cannot make any comment on specific plans,’ Sony Senior Vice President Hiroshi Yoshioka told a news conference that unveiled upcoming Walkman models. Apple launched a video-enabled iPod last October.”
“Sony also said it will start rolling out five new models of a flash-memory-based Walkman, shaped like a perfume bottle, toward the end of the year at home and abroad,” Reuters reports. “A 4-gigabyte model with a noise-reduction function is expected to sell for around 29,000 yen ($240) in Japan, Sony said.”
Full article here.
Why does Sony even bother anymore? And who’s making the batteries for these soon-to-be-bloodied devices?
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Smelly for the telly.
It can handle images: Sony Shoe Box.
” . . . will start rolling out five new models of a flash-memory-based Walkman, shaped like a perfume bottle, toward the end of the year . . . ”
Does that mean it’ll have a cap on top so that I can get the exploding battery out easily?
Or does it mean that you can add a scent of your choice to cover up the stench of bad, overly-feminine design?
Give them a break. At least they don’t flagrantly steal the iPod’s shape and design and attempt to hitch a ride on Apple’s coattails, like virtually every single other company out there. They are trying. They’re imploding, but trying.
The Sony Alpha DSLR is great, btw. It’s nice to know they still do churn out some good stuff from time to time.
MDN, at the very least, you can say something funny and worth a read in your Take.
I think Sony’s creativity is worth an honorable mention. A resurgent Walkman brand is well worth the wait. The iPod isn’t the end-all.
look out Zune there’s a battle for 4th place taking shape.
So the Bean failed, and now they want to shape it like a perfume bottle. This is just sad.
Sony and all the others would be better served if they made ones that resembled real competitors to the iPod.
Go Sony!
In the meantime the fam and I are waiting for the wide screen iPods.
Walter: No one’s dissing them for trying. We’re giving them crap because of their bizarro approach to . . . what’s that word? . . . oh yaah: SIMPLICITY!
First, a BEAN!?!?! And now, a PERFUME BOTTLE???????? I mean, come onnnn! Talk about over-complicating this stuff.
As my father used to say, God rest his soul — You gotta be SHITTIN’ me!!!
At least the ad agency will be able to say; “it sells, or it smells!”
The deckchairs on the Titanic have never been arranged so much as they are by Sony, Microsoft, Dell et al…
yeah but does it squirt?
DOA
The lack of intelligence and maturity in both the take and the majority of MDN comments is disappointing.
I for one am glad that Sony is doing _something_ more than sitting pretty and watching the market they fathered slip away.