Quote:
Originally Posted by ScalyFreak
None of the above is exclusive to Sony readers. Having used their gaming consoles for years, and their mp3-players for even longer, not to mention constant exposure to their computers through my job, the first three things you listed are typical of everything they do. Add to this that they are disturbingly arrogant and somewhat divorced from reality (they genuinely believed we would fall in love with the PS3 because it was branded "Sony") and the only reason to buy their products is the hardware quality.
It sometimes irritates me that their hardware is as reliable as it is.  |
^ This is an extremely concise and IMO 100% accurate breakdown of Sony, their products and their overall corporate perspective.
I am pretty much the same in terms of my [fairly deep] familiarity with Sony products.
Indeed, they make/use extremely good hardware. They also feel confident enough in their design and manufacturing and programming that they almost never issue FW updates for their consumer gear [excepting PCs/laptops], which can be very frustrating. Though Sony must also be credited for creating and pushing out a number of formats that have become global standards, they also have a history of trying to push a number of PITA proprietary digital formats on the world [the shitty ATRAC codec and of course, the hugely awful .LRF/.LRX ebook types].
But having said all that, I am not sure I would categorize Sony as necessarily being "arrogant". More like set in their ways I think, complicated of course by the often impenetrable Japanese cultural mindset IMO. I am quite sure as others are that the myths about Sony having 50-100 year business plans are not overly exaggerated. Contrast this mentality with the incredibly short-sighted view of most western companies [which are often overly obsessed with quarterly shareholder dividends]...
Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't.
Still, their overall aesthetic product design is extremely appealing, at least to me. While I love my K3, there is no doubt in my mind that the Sony eReaders are the nicest looking pieces of HW ereader gear out there ATM. I would have bought one [and prolly still will if they stay in the ereader game], but I decided that the book-specific strength of Amazon was more important than eye candy.
my 2cents, FWIW...