Sony's core problem is that they are not a coherent company but rather a federation of self-serving fiefdoms.
No greater example is needed that the PS3 launch where the PS3 chief designer, Kutaragi, shrugged off his build cost target and gold-plated the console with a dozen unnecessary features and sent to manufacturing a design that literally broke the bank--costing the company $1.6 billion in *added* losses in the first year alone--without informing anybody else "above" him in management.
The first Stringer heard of the 20GB PS3, for example, was *after* the thing was in production. Kutaragi just wanted a loss leader to come closer to the XBOX's price so he "cut" the build cost by $10 and added $90 to the already substantial per-unit loss of the $599 model. Small wonder he was "promoted" out of the company. It took Sony three years of redesigns to strip out all the unnecessary features (SACD for one) and the "nice but too costly" ones (like hardware PS2 compatibility).
Check this on PS3 SACD support:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9680711-1.html
Kutaragi gave the PS3 the ability to read and "play" an audiophile niche format without the ability to actually *output* audiophile quality sound. It might have looked good on the specsheet but as for actually recouping the cost it added to those millions of consoles...?
Over and over you see the same thing in Sony products if you bother to deconstruct them; a total disconnect between what Sony thinks is important and the products the market actually *wants*.
A friend of mine got one of the large LCOS rear projector HDTVs Sony was selling a few years back. A look at the manual revealed it had over 60 fancilly labellled and trademarked "features" to "improve" SD video. Yet nowhere did it offer a Zero-overscan/one-to-one display switch for HD video. A feature even the cheapest made in China LCDs offered. (And then it turned out the sets broke down pretty quick and they faced repeated class action lawsuits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon...ective_Display)
No need to rehash their history on eReaders around here, right?
I mean, it took them 4 years to finally accept that, yes; a lot of buyers *do* want wireless on an ebook reader. And prefered it over touchscreens. But first they had to do the 700, the 600, the 650, trying to push touch screens as a premium feature. All the while Kindles and Nooks were eating their lunch and dinner. By the time they realized wireless is key and touch secondary, everybody else had both.
Those folks just don't seem to get out of their labs much. They do brilliant tech demos and decidedly mediocre products. And, since it is the products that pay the bills...
The one thing Sony has going for them is brand loyalty.
People who fondly remember their products from the last century keep giving them a try. And they do put out the odd decent product here and there so people will keep giving them chances.
Now, it's not like they're in danger of disappearing or being bought out but they really are going to keep on thrashing and bleeding for at least another 3-4 years before they can even begin to balance their books.
But if they blow the PS4 launch, all bets are off.