Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Sony actually has continued to have a run of quality products, but they had trouble with the follow through. For a while, Sony TV's and monitors had quite a reputation for quality (I had a sony tv/monitor that I bought with my Apple IIe, back in 83 that was still working and in use as late as 2 years ago) and they dominated with the Sony walkman. Heck, I have a playstation 3 that I use as a blu-ray player and it's still working like a champ. I bought the sony PRS-500, 505 and T2 because I considered it a much cleaner design than the Amazon Kindle (I've got a kindle and kindle fire as well). I still use the PRS-T2 for backpacking trips since I can use it for a good two weeks without recharging it.
Their problem is the follow through. The Sony eReader software came across as something that was written by some summer intern and they didn't allow buying from the web until almost the very end. With most of their electronic devices, they could simply put it out there and not worry about things like software or content.
Content is king when it comes to music, ebooks and movies/TV. I suspect that the hold up with Apple TV isn't the device or vision, but rather providing the content that people want for the price they are willing to pay. Until Apple gets their content ducks in a row, the AppleTV will remain a hobby device, IMPO.
Eventually, I'm sure that Apple will lose their way and forget what made them all that money (customer focus, for one thing), much like Microsoft has.
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You seem to be missing my point. In that time period Sony produced those things but also -
The consumer VCR. (from which then entire concept of personal video libraries derive from - everything from over-the-air recording and timeshifting (think DVR) to things like Video disks and streaming (think media libraries and Netflix).
The Walkman (from which all portable media players afterwards derived their reason for existence.)
These were as seminal as the personal computer. Both created entire categories of consumer level devices. Both of which were later displaced by cheaper variants of the same technology, because Sony tried to keep a hammerlock on the I.P. involved. Sound familiar? (The Beta/VHS wars, anyone?)
And to my viewpoint, Apple is having the same "follow through" problems. Content is king, but the king is no longer willing to pay Apple's toll. And Apple's latest attempt to force the King to pay the toll, has been (at least so far) shut down by the court system. No toll, and Apple will, over time, go back to being a niche player. Just like it always has...