Sony closing Europe and Aus stores 16 June 2014

[speakingtohe]

I just bought my 88 year old mother a T3 for mother's day as she finally managed to kill her kindle keyboard.

I sincerely hope that Sony style eReaders will continue to come forth, but don't have much hope as I could not find one in a store and had to order online from limited stock.

If, as I fear, there is no new model in the fall, I will buy a couple either new or second-hand just in case.

Helen

[benham]

I am pretty sure they are out of the ereader market altogether. The good news is, if you already own a Sony Reader, they last a long time.

I read almost all ebooks on my tablet now. I have not been impressed with the Kobo ereader app and their books have all been more expensive than Kindle.

[Xanthe]

Only one of my Sony books didn't transfer over, so I suppose I was lucky.

Still haven't heard from B&N re my Fictionwise books.

[injapan]

I think the Sony ebook store in Japan will stay open (???)

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by injapan

I think the Sony ebook store in Japan will stay open (???)

I think Kobo has a Japanese ebook store, so I suspect Sony's Japanese ebook store is doomed.

[diraj]

How can he say customer loyalty, I bought a sony phone last year, they lied and told me it had corrosion inside and corrosion is not under warranty. for the entire year 2013 back and forth with Sony full of lies. I knew something wasnt right so I had my phone checked out by a repair center back home. They took the phone apart, no corrosion. Just the charging piece is damaged. ironically, when I first got the phone I immediately called Sony repair and told them the phone is not charging properly. They sent me pictures of a bogus phone with corrosion damage. Sony also sent me a statement saying my phone has corrosion. Sony has not got in contact with the better business bureau and the complaint was filed in Jan 2014. Customer loyalty. Thats a laugh. I will wait a couple more weeks and your can see on 3 on my side, blasting Sony

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by MickiTee

Not surprised. It was just a matter of when not if following the closure of the US store.

Agreed. This really shouldn't be a surprise to most MobileRead members.

[MickeyC]

I also recently noticed the Sony store at two of the major malls in the Washington DC area have closed.

[fjtorres]

Sony's financials are not getting better:

http://www.cnet.com/news/sony-expect...woes-continue/

Sony doesn't expect to make any money this year, the Japanese tech giant has warned, saying it will spend this year making major changes to its business.

The PlayStation-maker, which is one of the biggest tech companies in the world, has seen its fortunes eroded in recent years by competitors such as Samsung and Apple, and now expects to post of a loss of 50 billion (roughly $489.5M) in the current fiscal year, Reuters reports.

"We'll make this a year of biting the bullet on restructuring," Sony's CFO Kenichiro Yoshida is quoted as saying. "In previous years the restructuring was mostly within business units and in manufacturing," Yoshida reportedly said. This time the difference is that we are quitting businesses entirely."

I wouldn't hold out much hope for new Sony ereaders since ebooks looks to be one of the businesses they're quitting.

[jersysman]

I would have thought, since the article mentions "PlayStation-maker" that they would have listed Microsoft as one of their biggest competitors.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by jersysman

I would have thought, since the article mentions "PlayStation-maker" that they would have listed Microsoft as one of their biggest competitors.

CNET editorial tone tends to sneer at Redmond; they only cover them when unavoidable or when they can spin it negatively. Their corporate sibs at ZDNET are a bit more balanced because it is hard to cover corporate IT without admitting MS does some things right.

In this case, since Sony's wounds are self inflicted they see no need to mention any competitor, besides Apple.

(They always throw in Apple, relevant or not.)

You learn to factor those things out, like reading about book contract negotiations in the Publishing Media; if one retailer plays hardball, it is regrettable but business as usual even if it lasts the better part of a year, but if another retailer does it it is unconscionable bullying.

[speakingtohe]

50 billion is, to me, an unimaginable amount of money for a one year loss. Except for their readers I have never bought Sony that I recall but I wish them as well as possible.

The blow to the Japanese people will probably be very high even with only a major downsizing, and they have had many problems of late.

I will have to break down and get another T3 sooner than I planned I guess just in case.

Helen

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

50 billion is, to me, an unimaginable amount of money for a one year loss. Except for their readers I have never bought Sony that I recall but I wish them as well as possible.

The blow to the Japanese people will probably be very high even with only a major downsizing, and they have had many problems of late.

I will have to break down and get another T3 sooner than I planned I guess just in case.

Helen

50B yen is a lot but Sony has bled double to triple that before, most notably the year after launching the PS3.
This year is a SpiderMan year so they can afford it.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

50B yen is a lot but Sony has bled double to triple that before, most notably the year after launching the PS3.
This year is a SpiderMan year so they can afford it.

Ahh my mistake I was missing the Yen part although 489 million has got to be a big owee especially if ongoing.

Helen

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

489 million has got to be a big owee especially if ongoing.

Helen

Yup. Ongoing. And that's on the low side for their annual losses.
They've been bleeding and selling units and properties for most of this century.
The only times they make much money is when the Spiderflicks come out, which is why Disney hasn't been able to buy the rights back.

Very long story of corporate hubris.

http://kotaku.com/5960411/how-sony-i...ound-the-world

http://www.briansolis.com/2013/12/th...tal-darwinism/

Two years ago their FY2012 losses ran in the $5B range and that was dollars.

Short version:

1- Severe case of Not-invented-here syndrome
2- Total misread on what digital HDTV meant (versus Japan's pre-existent analog HD) led them to bet on every TV display tech *except* LCD.
3- Rogue operator exec, Kutaragi, gold-plated the PS3 into 5 years of massive losses out of what used to be a cash cow.
4- Totally missed out on digital music.
5- Vertical integration at a time of outsourcing and virtual companies.

Edit: Hmm, if it goes on a bit longer, maybe Disney *will* be able to buy back the movie rights.