Sony closing Europe and Aus stores 16 June 2014

[Barty]

EBooks are the least of Sony's problems.

Latest rumor is they are suspending development of OLED, the next big thing in display, to focus on 4K LCD, an interim tech that may never catch on before being superseded.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Barty

EBooks are the least of Sony's problems.

Latest rumor is they are suspending development of OLED, the next big thing in display, to focus on 4K LCD, an interim tech that may never catch on before being superseded.

Not much choice: they put the TV division on the block but found no quick takers.
Focusing on 4K costs nothing (even no-name Chinese TVs have 4K) whereas large screen OLED is a money sink with no near term volume production and their R&D partnership with Panasonic fell apart.

And 4k actually has a use: passive 3D.
http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-tvs-with...-those-pixels/
It might even save BluRay as a (niche) business.

[Iskariot]

I said it before. I was a big fan of the Sony ereaders, but I am talking about the 650 and 950 series. I have been waiting for years for Sony to catch up to the likes of Kobo, but instead their ereader division manager told 'me' in an interview I did not want a larger screen, frontlit ereader, and a larger internal memory. But of course I did, so I bought a Kobo Aura HD instead. I never looked back.
I still own my brushed aluminum Sony PRS950, and still feel it is the prettiest ereader on the planet with a lot of excellent features. I would buy an upgraded version without thinking twice and would even be prepared to pay more than for a competitor device.

In the Netherlands the Sony ereader was the most popular brand, but now I see everybody with Kobo's and many of them are Aura HD's. People want frontlighting, despite what Sony tells them they want. Sony destroyed their own ereader market. It is pure mismanagement. Nothing else. They don't understand their own customers despite the fact that they only would have had to read the comments on their own ereader forum where the fans of the prs-650 and 950, who would have liked a true successor to these great devices, reside in misery.

[hwlester]

I might have bought a T3... IF they'd sold them in the US. I still love my T1 and the 600 I had before it. I hate that they're struggling, but Sony has been really bad about innovating in the marketplace, then not following through and letting their competitors surpass them.