Sony (SNE), which has failed at most of its new initiatives over the last two years, needs something to work. It PS3 has sold poorly. Prices for it digital cameras and TV screens are under pressure from firms in Korea and China. Its new e-reader is competing in a market which includes Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle which is a well-marketed leader, endorsed by Oprah.
Sony has decide that its next best chance to recover its financial performance and reputation for inventiveness is 3D TV. The question is whether anyone wants it.
The 3D products operates that way that older 3D cinema does, giving the viewer the illusion of watching content as if it were in the room with the him. The technology has several drawbacks, none of which can be easily overcome.
The first problem with 3D TV is that there is no single technology standard. This means that the industry could go through multi-year format wars the way the video cassette and HD TV and DVD markets did. These battles are costly and there is no guarantee that the technology Sony is backing, called “active shutter”, will prevail.
The other major problem is that 3D video cameras are expensive and it is not clear how many content providers will make the investment. Film studios may be willing to gamble that 3D will bring them more customers. TV production firms and TV news and sports operations may believe otherwise.
According tothe FT, Sony “plans not only to sell 3D Bravia television sets, but to make Sony’s Vaio laptop computers, PlayStation3 games consoles and Blu-ray disc players compatible with the technology.”
It is not so long ago that Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) wanted to build the living room of the future filled with complex entertainment devices that would network game consoles with TVs and PCs so that the user could have one-stop access to all of them. The companies found out, after investing tens of millions of dollars, that people like their living rooms just they way they were. Sony may find out the hard way that “2D” video is just fine.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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