Sony (SNE) never got into the multimedia handheld business the way that Apple (AAPL) did with the iPod. The Japanese company’s joint venture with Ericsson that builds and markets handsets is behind Apple, RIM (RIMM), and even Palm (PALM) is the race to get out a fully-featured smartphone.
Sony was also late getting its PS3 gaming console to market, giving the Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox a lead of several months.
Sony’s newest late product is its netbook which will launch more than a year after small companies in Taiwan offered their first models and months after Dell (DELL) and HP (HPQ) got into the market. The Sony Vaio W won’t even be in stores before August.
Sony is demonstrating once again why it has gone from the world’s premier consumer electronics company two decades ago to a firm that is struggling to make money. Its core plasma TV and digital camera products are in highly competitive business in which other Japanese, Korean, and Chinese manufacturers are pressuring margins. Its PS3 perennially sells fewer units that the Microsoft console and Nintendo Wii.
Being late is a habit with Sony. There is no reason it should break that with its netbook introduction.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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