Plugged-in boss puts spark back in Sony
By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-23 10:16

With these new approaches, Sony Electronics, of which Chubachi is CEO, launched new products. Many of them, such as the HC1 and HC3 camcorders, the Bravia LCD televisions, and the Alpha digital cameras, have turned out to be runaway hits.

Boosted by healthy sales of products like these, Sony's core electronics section, which has always contributed significantly to sales revenues but had been a drain on profit, was back in the black in the April-June quarter. Sales in this division rose 13.5 per cent.

For the latest quarter, the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant reported a 32.3 billion yen ($276 million) profit on the back of strong sales of electronics.

Sony's electronics have enjoyed long and eclectic product lines as well as high-end positioning. Asked how he went about balancing the two seemingly contradictory strengths, Chubachi responded that he approached each product category by its unique performance and market needs. Some were condensed while others went upscale.
"Overall, our strength is at the high end," he said.

New battleground

Sony needs much more than this strength alone if it wants victory in the next-generation format war.

The high-definition format of Blu-ray, spearheaded by Sony, is going head-to-head with Toshiba's HD-DVD in a battle reminiscent of the Beta-VHS wrangling for the videotape standard some 20 years ago.

During that feud, Sony's Beta was widely considered to be technically superior to Matsushita's VHS but the latter had the support of a consortium of vendors while Sony did not license its technology to others. Eventually, Sony lost out.

"Beta still reigns as the standard in the broadcast industry," explained Chubachi, who is in China to attend the annual Beijing International Radio, TV & Film Equipment Exhibition (BIRTV 2006), which opens today.

Chubachi emphasized that Sony is not going to repeat that mistake. "Whoever gains more users will win in this round," he analyzed.


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