Sony to appoint first non-Japanese CEO

[BJ_M]

TOKYO — Sony Corp. is considering changes to its top executive ranks on Monday, amid growing fears about the Japanese manufacturer's ability to improve results at its faltering core electronics business.

Sony officials refused to comment on media reports that Nobuyuki Idei, chief executive and chairman, will step down and be replaced by Howard Stringer, the chairman and chief executive of Sony Corp. of America. Stringer also serves as Sony's vice-chairman.

A board of directors meeting was scheduled Monday morning to discuss management changes and a decision won't be final until then, a Sony official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

On Sunday, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported on their websites that Idei had decided to step aside and promote Stringer. The Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun also reported the development in its Monday edition.

Kunitake Ando also is expected to step down as Sony president, according to the reports, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Tokyo-based Sony, which also has entertainment businesses, such as movies, music and video games, has been struggling amid nose-diving prices of electronics products and has relied on hit movies to boost profits.

Products that were once pillars of Sony's power, such as TVs and portable players, have declined in sales in recent years.

Cheaper electronics goods from Asian and other rivals have been a problem for Sony, which built its global brand over the past decades by offering trusted quality although at higher prices.

What was dubbed "Sony shock" happened two years ago, when Sony share prices dropped on worse than expected earnings results. Although Sony's profits have improved since then, they have not made a dramatic revival.

Analysts also say Sony missed the boat with portable music players by delaying a release of products to play MP3 music files, taking a beating from the iPod by Apple Computer Inc.

Movies Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 have been among the few bright spots in Sony's otherwise faltering performance.

Stringer has overseen the company's entertainment operations, including the recent acquisition of a consortium of U.S. film and television studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MGM.

Stringer, a native of Cardiff, Wales, is a former CBS reporter and served as president of the network from 1986 to 1988. He joined Sony in 1997. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1999.

Idei was a surprise choice as president in 1995, bypassing more than 10 contenders. He was hand-picked by Norio Ohga, who succeeded Sony founder Akio Morita.

In recent years, competition from South Korean rival Samsung Electronics has battered Sony, and Sony has set up a joint venture with Samsung in liquid-crystal displays.

Sony has also fallen behind Japanese rivals such as Sharp Corp. in liquid-crystal display TVs and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, in the DVD recorder market.

[MOVIEGEEK]

"Analysts also say Sony missed the boat with portable music players by delaying a release of products to play MP3 music files, taking a beating from the iPod by Apple Computer Inc. "

Sony always has to be different and some ideas failed...AlTrac,Memory Stick,Beta and DD-CD come to mind.

[vitualis]

Sony's problem is its reluctance to license its technology out.

MD could have been the next big thing... The data version of MD was out before ZIP, was larger than ZIP and much more reliable. But Sony pretty much killed it.

MP3 on MD would have probably killed the early MP3 HDD players and flash based MP3 players. It would have been trivial to implement. But, Sony missed the boat.

Regards.

[lumis]

wasnt there recently a firmware upgrade for MD players that allow them to play mp3's?

you're right about the MD MP3, if there had been one a few years ago i would have bought one.. i bought the first mp3 cd player made, still got it.. never use it though, its a piece of junk

[vitualis]

Don't know about "firmware upgrade" but there are new Sony players out now that can do MD MP3.

The MD is actually a remarkable piece of technology. When it is writing, it is not too different from buring a CD, but it can do so reliably even if the player is "on the move" (i.e., you can jump up and down and shake the player)... and doing so in a package that is smaller than the iPod mini (even 10 years ago).

This is a case of Sony thinking that they can earn more by deliberately crippling their players. They still haven't learnt their lesson with things like their MG "check-in/check-out" system. Annoying and stupid.

Regards.

[lumis]

this is what i was thinking of;

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/11443