“Sony Corp named Vice President Kazuo Hirai as president and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer who will step down from day-to-day management in a long-expected change for a company struggling to regain its driving force in consumer electronics,” Yoko Kubota reports for Reuters.
“Stringer will remain chairman of the company until June, when he will become chairman of the board of directors, a separate post that will not be directly involved in company management, Sony spokeswoman Mami Imada said,” Kubota reports. “The are no plans to replace him in the chairman’s role, she added.”
Kubota reports, “Sony announced the changes ahead of its earnings report on Thursday, which is expected to forecast the company will post a net loss for the fourth year in a row as its TV division bleeds red ink. Hirai will take over on April 1.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Howard Stringer. A turnaround artist, he wasn’t.
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Wow. A Japanese guy. What a concept.
Now, for the next genius move: a Sony branded cell phone.
*falls out of chair in shock*
Well, “An American Guy” as concept was far more “wowing” back then. I immediately thought that it is stupid move, since there was no hint that Stringer could bring anything new to this Japanese company.
He basically killed all the cool stuff (like robodog Aibo and other things that made Sony unique), and this did not make company profitable.
Actually, a Welsh guy, I believe.
Too many weird proprietary storage formats for their camcorders and cameras. Weird music format for their Walkman music players. PlayStation 3 getting long in the tooth – needs a graphics chip update. Lost a lost of business from me.
I’ve since switched to Canon camcorders & cameras and Apple iPod touch & nano music players. Still holding on to the PS3 – not going to touch anything from the evil empire – XBox 360 – with a barge pole.
You’ve got it, BLN.
My first digital camera was a sony. With its proprietary memory sticks.
But there was even a deeper problem than that… the camera was great, but the CHARGER — was a mass of wires and boxes and cradles I actually kept in a SHOEBOX.
It seems like sony does that sort of thing a lot — misses the forest for the trees. Like their ATRAK MP3 players that made you re-encode all of your music. WTF Sony?
At one point Sony was talking a lot about the power of the brand “Walkman.” So I asked a 20-something what “walkman” meant to her. She said, “A cheap, crappy portable CD player.” Awesome.
I’ve always liked Stringer, but it does seem like it’s time for him to go.
And ATRAK makes all music sound like it was recorded in a tin can in a bathroom.
“Too many weird proprietary storage formats”
BINGO.
These companies that try to lock us in by using proprietary formats…. just to lock us in usually fail.
Yes, Apple uses some proprietary formats but AAC, H264, Firewire, etc are all open formats and Apple does it to make the experience better, not to lock in. BIG difference.
Just a thought,
The BLN alter ego that makes sense has appeared.
I stopped buying Sony after an absolutely abysmal customer service experience in the early 2000’s. Sony stands as a monument to complacency.
What’s taking so long? Sony was dead to me years ago. A DVD player that would refuse to play home-burnt discs (CD) was the last straw.
Unfortunately there is no Steve Jobs DNA in the Japanese mind set either. At least at the corporate level where most are scared rabbits. They should hire a free thinking Japanese artist to be CEO. I know they had someone like that before and they ain’t got anything much to lose. I haven’t bought a Sony product in many, many, MANY years. They have done ngoing much to differentiate themselves as others have outclassed them with superior products. Even looking at typical Sony design sense makes me wanna puke.
Watching Sony fall the past decade has been a rollercoaster of emotion. At first I was glad to see them losing ground – more competition equals (usually) better products, and I expected their hardships to push them ahead. 5 years later Sony hadn’t brought anything to the table in innovation was putting out 10 different models for each other products. They had an opportunity to solidify their branding with PS3 and blew it. They lacked cohesion and a system that speaks with itself. We’re here today with their several markets on life support – cellular is a joke, PlayStation is in limbo, their computers are expensive as hell for Windows machines, and they became known for having too many choices for each type of product.
Sony is going through this restructuring for a reason – they have been simplifying their product line the last 2 years, cutting down on products. This is a new world, it’s Apple’s world, and Sony is trying to survive while others who saw it coming beforehand, or have been able to carve out their own plot of land, thrive.
Sony failed to make money. PS2 and PS3 are both culprits.
What is the background on Kazuo Hirai? Is he a tech? Is he a marketing exec? Does Sony have a chance at revitalizing their entrepreneurial spirit? Or is this the final FLUSH?
Oh here we go. Quoting from his Wikipedia page:
Hirai was hired at CBS/Sony Inc. (now Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.), where he was involved in marketing international music within Japan.
Great. He’s a marketing guy. Same old Marketing-As-Management bullshite. Sony is FRACKED. This should be fun to watch. Been nice knowing you Sony…
Yeah, MARKETING, yeah, yeah that’s the ticket!
All we need is better MARKETING, yeah, that will do it!
NOT!