|
Plugged-in boss puts spark back in Sony
By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-23 10:16 With these new approaches, Sony Electronics, of which Chubachi is CEO,
launched new products. Many of them, such as the HC1 and HC3 camcorders, the
Bravia LCD televisions, and the Alpha digital cameras, have turned out to be
runaway hits.
Boosted by healthy sales of products like these, Sony's
core electronics section, which has always contributed significantly to sales
revenues but had been a drain on profit, was back in the black in the April-June
quarter. Sales in this division rose 13.5 per cent.
For the latest
quarter, the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant reported a 32.3
billion yen ($276 million) profit on the back of strong sales of
electronics.
Sony's electronics have enjoyed long and eclectic product
lines as well as high-end positioning. Asked how he went about balancing the two
seemingly contradictory strengths, Chubachi responded that he approached each
product category by its unique performance and market needs. Some were condensed
while others went upscale.
"Overall, our strength is at the high end," he
said.
New battleground
Sony needs much more than this strength
alone if it wants victory in the next-generation format war.
The
high-definition format of Blu-ray, spearheaded by Sony, is going head-to-head
with Toshiba's HD-DVD in a battle reminiscent of the Beta-VHS wrangling for the
videotape standard some 20 years ago.
During that feud, Sony's Beta was
widely considered to be technically superior to Matsushita's VHS but the latter
had the support of a consortium of vendors while Sony did not license its
technology to others. Eventually, Sony lost out.
"Beta still reigns as
the standard in the broadcast industry," explained Chubachi, who is in China to
attend the annual Beijing International Radio, TV & Film Equipment
Exhibition (BIRTV 2006), which opens today.
Chubachi emphasized that Sony
is not going to repeat that mistake. "Whoever gains more users will win in this
round," he analyzed.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
| Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours |
|
|
|
|
