Sony CEO Accuses Steve Jobs Of Being Greedy
from the pots-and-kettles dept
Speaking on a recent panel, Sony CEO Howard Stringer lashed out at Steve Jobs, calling him greedy and accusing him of wanting a world where only he gets to make money. Considering the relative performance of Sony and Apple of late, Stringer's frustration is understandable, though his specific charges are pretty rich. Sony, of course, is legendary in its insistence on using closed, proprietary technologies, whose only purpose is to keep customers locked in. Talk about wanting to be the only company making money. Of course, this strategy has badly backfired, as it usually just keeps customers away. Ultimately, every company wants to make as much money as it can, something that Apple's been quite good at. But Stringer's comments suggest he feels entitled to some cut of the action, even if Sony hasn't done anything to deserve it. Thinking you deserve something for doing nothing -- now that's what's really greedy.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
pot
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sony Not Greedy...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sony support thread
Read from bottom to top.
--------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support.
We apologize that you are not completely satisfied with your Sony product. We appreciate the time you have taken to share your comments with us. It is important that we receive this feedback from our customers so that we may better serve you in the future.
Please contact our Corporate Communications Department at the following website. They will either contact you back, or redirect your inquiry to the appropriate department. Sony's internal company email addresses and phone numbers are not available to the public.
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/corporate_information/contact_us
Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.
Your Sony Email Response Team
CP98
Samuel
This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. They may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachments associated therewith from your computer. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
How useless can you all possibly be when you cannot even forward an email as requested. Once again beyond useless.
-----Original Message-----
From: Custserv [mailto:custserv@info.sel.sony.com]
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 9:18 AM
To:
Subject: Re: Camcorder: Digital (KMM16959047I21924L0KM)
Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support.
I'm sorry for any inconvenience you've experienced with the product.
As much as I would like to assist you, our email response team strictly provides product information, troubleshooting, and technical assistance.
Sony believes that communication regarding such concerns is best conducted through personal interaction with our customer service team at: (800) 222-7669.
Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.
Your Sony Email Response Team
CP98
Samuel
This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. They may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachments associated therewith from your computer. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.
Original Message Follows:
Message : To the President/CEO Sony Corp.
Im writing to tell you why I will NEVER purchase a Sony product EVER again and do everything within my power to convince ANYONE who will listen to do
th esame.
Im not alone, as a Corporation you have alienated nearly every one of your customers with lies and insane heavy handed tactics that prove to the customer he/she is meaningless to you.
It seems just yesterday that I craved that Sony cassette walkman that had a certain quality that made it a terrific product for a new market. Over the years Ive personally watched the quality of your products deteriorate into just another electronics company.
Nearly 2 years ago I purchased a Sony SNC-RZ30 security camera. It was WAY more expensive than I wanted to pay but YOUR product claimed to be able to be controlled by a Pocket PC. During the 2 years Ive tried with 5 different PPCs and contacted useless Sony support where I was treated like a moron and subsequently told numerous times through numerous support requests that I have to go purchase some other software. I have spent over $100 non-refundable software that DIDNT work with this camera. At the very least if youre support staff are going to make me go buy more software to do what was claimed on the Camera box it had better work correctly. Then after I spend the money I get the "Oh well" form your support staff.
This is just my little problem that Ill assume will NEVER work the way I intended or the way you claimed. I could take you to small claims court but ya know, you arent worth the effort.
Beyond my issue you have made clowns of yourselves time and time again with the "rootkit" OR the push for your proprietary "Memory Stick" that has failed years ago, yet you are too stupid to see people arent as dumb as YOU think. For the price of a 256mb memory stick I can get a 2GB Mini SD card???? Does that make ANY sense?
Needless to say Sony Corp is a dinosaur from a bygone corrupt/greedy era and I for one cannot wait till Sony drops off the face of the Earth.
Buh-Bye
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Sony Not Greedy...
Beta format VHS tapes? I assume you meant to type "VCR" (Video Cassette Recorder).
Sony as a company may suck, but Beta did have superior picture quality. VHS (Video Home System) beat 'em on greater record time.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
This, I think, is a bad idea, as it tends to draw the most unscrupulous alpha sharks whose main fiduciary responsibility is to themselves. I think we've seen more than a few examples of that in the last 20 years or so.
But hey, making something a playground for alpha types to play their ego games works great in the judicial system!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Oh snap!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Also, as much as you may hate to admit it, Sony Pictures as a movie company has been setting records throughout the millenium and has easily been the most successful movie producer/publisher in the last 7 years.
Sony BMG maybe not. I don't know how successful they are financially, but I'm definitely not buying sony audio cds, sorry Sony.
As for gaming, well so far they've had the most successful gaming consoles ever created, and when it comes to hardware quality alone, well my original 1990s PSX (that's how the PSOne used to look before it changed the X to a One) still works, and my ps2 has yet to fail, and I've not heard of a single case of a PS3 simply overheating or just plain dying for no reason unlike the 360 and xbox. HOWEVER, I'm far from claiming that the PS3 is currently the most successful console. Far from it. The future may change that, but right now I know I still don't have a single reason to go out and buy a PS3, and I've been a pretty good fan of the PS-line in the past. No games, and hell if I care about HD visuals.
Hm.. the last sony electronics product I had (its not exactly cheap, really) was a minidisc player, well... two. One which was stolen, and other which was broken when someone (a relatively big someone) sat on it or something. I honestly cannot comment on their quality in that department. I know that their items typically "look good/stylish/stand out" but I've heard plenty of stories of vaios (for example) being less than reliable, to say the least.
My point is that Sony is pretty fucking big, and headed by different subdivisions. Grouping them all together to insult because of the mistakes of one division is a mistake in itself. Be a but less biased. And while I agree that Howard Stringer, like any CEO honestly, is greedy - Steve Jobs is oceans away from anything but.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sony - of ALL companies.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cry Baby
A ceo crying the blues about money when 80 percent of this country struggles, 10 percent is living, an the other 10 are the big wigs. Get a life loser!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Also, simply because it was folly on Mr. Stringer's part to make such a comment, it does not lessen the brutality Sony has inflicted upon itself over the last few years.
To say that the PS3 is not by -any- means the most popular console out today, and precede that with comments about how the PS3 is so much better than the XBox360, makes little sense... If the PS3 were the superior console, it would have overtaken 360 sales pretty quickly. That's kind of the idea of the system in this country, whoever makes the better product makes the most sales, and thus gets hailed as the better company. Sony missed the boat this time, unfortunately.
Oh, and one more thing, it's not much to say that Sony is "winning the HD format war," when that war's goal, at the moment, is to win over strikingly small number of people. The HD formats are -both- practically DOA, as there is little to no need for them, especially not at the prices that are being charged for the technology. So while it may very well be winning this "war," Sony is still struggling with the same bad ideas/decisions that they've struggled with for several years. It's just finally coming back to bite them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sony
On the other hand, they do (did) make pretty reliable products. My console TV, a Sony, is about 25 years old and still works fine. It has never needed service.
And every so often a Sony innovation captures the market. We remain grateful to Akio Morita for demanding the Compact Disk hold all of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Lesser men had come out with the 45 rpm record.
Sony is simply a company that allowed itself to become a mature company driven by design and cosmetic variations rather than constantly new themes. It's called "hardening of the arteries".
Instead of whining about Steve Jobs, Howard Stringer should dedicate himself to reinventing Sony. Apple has shown us all that high prices are no barrier to massive sales if the consumer is offered a value proposition commensurate with the price. Few would have believed the iPhone would have sold in the millions, and so quickly, at its heretofore unprecedentedly high market price point. Thus Sony needs to refocus not on price points or proprietary technology, but on the value proposition offered. Close examination of its history will show that that was a fundamental driver of its past successes.
It is a corollary of the above that Sony needs to concentrate on product areas where the possibility of high value propositions exists. DTV, for example, isn't it--it's just another TV of higher picture quality, as currently implemented, although the format offers the possibility of subchannel innovation if people focus on that. This is a possible area for Sony to develop a market before Jobs goes into the TV business with a range of additional services and capabilities and eats that lunch as well.
Putting it another way, Jobs is a user interface oriented product design and marketing genius, and so far Stringer hasn't shown himself to be so.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jobs
Speculating, since Stringer's own remarks didn't make it clear (at least Techdirt did include a pointer to the original article on the remarks) Stringer could have been referring to Jobs campaign to drop digital rights protection from iTunes files. Stringer must imagine that the technology prevents the kind of piracy that might cause lost sales. That case is by no means proven, even though it is an article of faith with recording industry executives.
On the other hand, if Stringer was talking about raising the price for downloads, if he doesn't like the contractual deal with Apple, when it expires he can always withhold his media and see what that does to his bottom line. He's not likely to do that since he would lose money--which is why he is whining in public about it. If your gun has no bullets, try to talk a brave line and see if that works.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The top three:
#1 - Coca Cola
#2 - Sony
#3 - Toyota
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Apple vs. Sony
Apple over the years has certainly had a corner on "proprietary" now hasn't it?
Too bad they both haven't learned a lesson! Customers learn quickly to trust the company that is not necessarily just "Greed" oriented now don't they!!!!
Power to the internet EH?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Sony Not Greedy...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Where are all of the Robin Hoods??
I bet if Nintendo wasn't spanking their PS3 Sony wouldn't be bitchin.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The Color of Green
[ link to this | view in thread ]
SONY CEO Lashed at Steve Jobs for Being "Stingy"
Folks, our goverment has gone awry. They are watching their own "backsides" while the major issues facing this country are running out of the barn. It won't be long that all of our industry will be gone. We present the most caustic business atmosphere in the world. To be a US business is to compete with you favored hand behind you, your "friend" restraining you deaf to your pleas for some balance, and a general attitude of "tough sh__," you brought this on yourself. Remember when we made great TVs?
Stringer, you couldn't tied Jobs shoes. By working for SONY, you have the job 3/4 done for you by the Japanese government rather that having your job doubled by the crippling beauracratic business political atmosphere, along with a massively tilted palying field whenit comes to job costs, health care, environmental issues, etc., etc., ...
The T-shirt you're wearing was made by a 11 year old Malaysian paid 10 cents a day in a ratty old tent in 120 heat.
Wake up
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Well... sure!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PS. Apple sucks!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Like it or not, Blu-ray is here to stay, and there are a lot more companies backing it than just Sony.
Having yet to even own an HD tv (and going into college I know it'll be a very long time before I do) I have no interest in the format, but wow, take the apple-goggles off and try and be a bit less biased.
I dont know the exact financial status of both companies, but I think it's safe to assume that Apple is more successful than Sony at the moment. But both companies are only interested in money, and neither of them is more innocent than the other.
Besides, I think I made it pretty obvious that I was only comparing it to HD-DVD. Yet people always find a way to take stabs at anyone (suprising that there even is anyone in this corner of the internets) who says anything in Sony's defense.
I bet half the people here still think that you can only play blu-ray games on your ps3 because of drm, and I bet not a single person here realizes that the "uber restrictive drm" on the PS3 allows you to let up to three other consoles download any game you buy online on your account, which comes at no premium (in fact the downloadable content is typically cheaper than nintendo's and microsoft's... *waits for someone who knows nothing of console game sales to say some biased comment about how the games have to be cheaper because they suck*) and that's about 3 more downloads than the competition offers. You can see the influences of their evil restrictive empire as they allow 3rd party OSs and hardware to work on their console, and their greed is so obvious in their free web browsing and online gaming service.
I feel so tortured having a console where I don't have to pay extra to use as a media center and remote media server, I'm about to chuck the thing because I absolutely abhor simultaneous bluetooth and wifi interactivity with other devices...
Please, most people here who try to talk bad about the company in line with the current geek fad have never owned a sony product, let alone one that failed on them or infected their pc with rootkits.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
People would be saying the same if hd-dvd was winning in the same way.
Also if you buy a game system based on the downloads and not the actual games for it, good for you but it's not the case for the majority of people.
Seriously, round here there's a wii commercial per ad break (and man that's more than enough to make me want to kill the one responsible for that), and there's not 1 that is centered around the downloadable contents. I bet MS do the same for their xbox360. And for all I know Sony does not advertise how psn work >.>.
Face it even if blu-ray is here to stay, there's still a long way to go before reaching non-techies.
Considering the extremly low sales of the ps3 (ps3 do worldwide about what the ps2 did when released in japan) I don't see how this player is here to stay.
Oh and if you're happy with it, then good for you.
I have no interest in it but that won't stop me from wishing you good times with it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
Plus, Sony very well could have the best quality system with the PS3. It matters not when there are no games.
Better product doesn't make the most sales. There are plenty of luxury cars that cost hundreds of thousand's of dollars but I bet they have fewer sales than a honda civic.
The Next-gen DVDs will eventually gain ground in my opinion. Right now they're high-end luxury items. If you don't have a high-end entertainment system, you can't even notice the difference. If you do, there is a huge difference, assuming you're a video/audio-phile.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
seeing as how people will pay $600 for a phone that looks pretty, i'm sure there are plenty of people who will buy the PS3 once more games are released.
the ps3 should have been released a lot later, but they pushed it ahead due to the hd format wars which very well could win the war for them. and remember, there's more to the war than just movies. whoever wins that will most likely win the war completely and become the next storage media disc as well.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Don't by Sony
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
seeing as how people will pay $600 for a phone that looks pretty, i'm sure there are plenty of people who will buy the PS3 once more games are released.
the ps3 should have been released a lot later, but they pushed it ahead due to the hd format wars which very well could win the war for them. and remember, there's more to the war than just movies. whoever wins that will most likely win the war completely and become the next storage media disc as well."
Completely 100% agree with you. Like I've said, I have yet to have a reason to own a PS3 - I was merely trying to show the other side to the whole anti-everythingthatissony trend and how many things are false and/or blown out of proportion.
The system needs some serious games, seriously soon. For the price, the features are a bargain, but I'm still buying a gaming console primarily, with everything else being "extra", not the other way around.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
This from the company that that distibutes BMG Mus
"There's a sucker born every minute"
- PT Barnum
[ link to this | view in thread ]
job
all kind computer work
[ link to this | view in thread ]