Sony "confident" it can tackle iPad
updated 09:55 am EST, Thu February 4, 2010
Sony hints at iPad rival in works
Sony while discussing its latest results today said it would like to compete against the iPad. Company CFO Nobuyuki Oneda said Sony is "very interested" in producing a tablet and is "confident" that it can produce a device that competes with Apple's hardware. He didn't provide significant clues as to how far along in development the Sony device is, if at all, but acknowledged it would trail behind the iPad's late March ship date.
"Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in," Oneda commented.
Sony is familiar with touchscreen devices and has produced relatively advanced products such as the Walkman X1000 and a touchscreen iPod-capable clock radio, but it so far has little experience with large touch-based hardware. Historically it has lagged Apple by a year or more in developing handhelds.
Oneda sees less pressure as its flagship e-book device, the Reader Daily Edition, has been receiving "great acclaim" and should grow. It uses a touchscreen interface and has built-in 3G to get books through a subscription.
Outside of the tablet plans, Sony's executive also alluded to mobile devices shipping in October that will hinge on a unified online store that will supply e-books, games and media across the Bravia, Reader, VAIO and Walkman lines.
FAIL?
02/04, 10:16am reply
For a product that's been dubbed FOA [failed on arrival], it sure generates a lot of envy form other companies. If Sony can make a better product, more power to them. As The Ugly would say, "If you're going to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
JBytes
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Joined: May 2000
Really now, what else could they say?
02/04, 10:35am reply
But what they're really saying is "now that Apple has shown us what a real tablet is like, I think we can proceed with designing and building our competing product".
Sony used to be a great hardware company until they fell into this mindset that in order to succeed they need to have proprietary storage media, proprietary file formats and proprietary cables and connectors.
aardman
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Joined: Nov 2009
The X1000 supposedly had a terrible browser
02/04, 10:38am reply
so there might be a weakness on Sony's part of getting a device that people would enjoy browsing the internet with. Of course, they will claim that their device does Flash which the iPad doesn't. Again, I'm not sure why Sony is even interested in competing against the iPad in a category that really hasn't been defined as worthy of chasing. The tablet market is still questionable. Apple appears to have a ready base of users which would take to new technology such as the iPad. Sony should just stick to improving its eInk readers which seem to be in a category of steady growth as more books are moved to digital media.
iphonerulez
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It's Receiving Great Acclaim
02/04, 11:32am reply
It sure is. From Sony.
Foe Hammer
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Hardware is easy
02/04, 12:25pm reply
It's the software that makes the device what it is. What OS is Sony going to use that will make it a superior platform? Are they going to write their own?
bjojade
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Joined: Jun 2007
Seriously?
02/04, 12:38pm reply
How does Sony even take its self seriously these days. They s**** up just about everything they make. TVs are about the only thing they still do pretty well with (to my knowledge). The PS3 is a success sure and I have one (just for the BluRay - no games owned) but they still dropped the ball by letting the XBox and Wii gain so much ground for their respective owners. Sony just doesn't understand the US market with all their proprietary stuff. There is a world outside the US but if you truly want to dominate then it's where you need to start.
facebook_Jonathan
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@aardman
02/04, 05:00pm reply
Hmmmmmm.... kind of reminds you of another company doesn't it? haha.
luckyday
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Joined: Apr 2008
Sony = Titanic
02/04, 06:47pm reply
Hot on the heels of the PSP Go's total failure to compete with the iPod touch - or really to compete with anything, given its pathetic sales to date - Sony confidently declares it will match the iPad. "clueless" doesn't begin to do these guys justice.
head for the lifeboats, folks. just like the Titanic, Sony will first break in two (the consumer tech products bow, "merged" with another Japanese tech company, and the Hollywood Media stern "merged" with one of the other big US media gangs) before that once proud name finally slips beneath the waves and plunges into oblivion.
Alfiejr
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