Robert Morein
April 15th 04, 05:49 PM
"George M. Middius" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Sony is introducing some fancy-shmancy stuff that is clearly intended to
> undermine the one-size-fits-all approach to design. They have a Web page
> (http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/QUALIA/) but there's nothing there.
>
> A summary from the NYTimes:
>
> "Initially anchored by a $3,900 miniature digital camera, a $15,000
> stereo system, a $12,000 television and a $30,000 home-theater
> projector, the product line, called Qualia, is intended to compete with
> (and complement) fancy cars, furs and rare wines, rather than the rows
> of anonymous boxes at Best Buy or Circuit City."
>
>
> Did you see that? "Anonymous boxes" indeed! The grubbing for money is
> going too far. If a 'borg can't afford a $12,000 TV then nobody should
> have one, dammit!
>
With respect to the high end, there has always been a strong identification
between the brand and a single person presumably responsible for creating
it. How meaningful this is in an age of Chinese outsourcing is questionable,
but it's there. You can call up a boutique manufacturer and frequently find
yourself speaking to the president, designer, or at least someone who really
works on the product.
Sony is a company with large technical resources -- 3,000 Ph.D's, and has
been responsible for an immense amount of technical innovation.
Nevertheless, the company is bound by the structure of a typical huge,
multinational corporation, and no contact with the creators of the product
is encouraged or even allowed. Simply talking to the Sony parts department
is a daunting task, but as a result of drastic corporate restructing, they
are dumping most of their parts inventory, which indicates more of a
devotion to the concept of the disposable product.
All this is fine with the Japanese consumer, for whom frequent product
change is part of the entertainment quotient. Innovation is part of the
Japanese fascination with consumer audio equipment. Longevity is not,
although, to be fair, Sony and other Japanese mainstream equipment does
appear to be reasonably, if not extremely, durable.
This new foray is an attempt at the construction of a new image by the
science, not of engineering, but of marketing. There is a collaborative
engineering element, but Sony's engineering position is no longer so strong
that it can extend the state of the art. It can merely polish it.
Will this polishing of the big brass knob, combined with a concerted effort
at product differentiation, bring a flood of disposable income toward Sony's
coffers? A look at the market for sub-notebook laptops might be
instructional.
In Japan, laptops a bit larger than a PDA sell at a premium. Cast magnesium,
lithium polymer batteries, special keyboards and minature displays are used
in machines of between 1.78 and 2.3 pounds, with the heavier units having
built-in DVD drives. ULV (ultra-low-voltage) processors, which average one
watt in power consumption, make feasible battery packs in the 20watt-hour
class.
All this is less for more, cunningly packaged with the finish of fine
jewelry, at premiums of 40% over larger, more powerful laptops that are
marketed worldwide, including the U.S. The Toshiba Libretto was marketed
here for a time, but eventually withdrawn, and it was the last time Japan,
Inc. confused the pleasures of Americans for their own.
The real question is: Can the Japanese fascination with ephemeral esoterica
be transliterated to the culture of Big Sky country?
My guess is that we'll be eating with chopsticks first.
...
>
>
> Sony is introducing some fancy-shmancy stuff that is clearly intended to
> undermine the one-size-fits-all approach to design. They have a Web page
> (http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/QUALIA/) but there's nothing there.
>
> A summary from the NYTimes:
>
> "Initially anchored by a $3,900 miniature digital camera, a $15,000
> stereo system, a $12,000 television and a $30,000 home-theater
> projector, the product line, called Qualia, is intended to compete with
> (and complement) fancy cars, furs and rare wines, rather than the rows
> of anonymous boxes at Best Buy or Circuit City."
>
>
> Did you see that? "Anonymous boxes" indeed! The grubbing for money is
> going too far. If a 'borg can't afford a $12,000 TV then nobody should
> have one, dammit!
>
With respect to the high end, there has always been a strong identification
between the brand and a single person presumably responsible for creating
it. How meaningful this is in an age of Chinese outsourcing is questionable,
but it's there. You can call up a boutique manufacturer and frequently find
yourself speaking to the president, designer, or at least someone who really
works on the product.
Sony is a company with large technical resources -- 3,000 Ph.D's, and has
been responsible for an immense amount of technical innovation.
Nevertheless, the company is bound by the structure of a typical huge,
multinational corporation, and no contact with the creators of the product
is encouraged or even allowed. Simply talking to the Sony parts department
is a daunting task, but as a result of drastic corporate restructing, they
are dumping most of their parts inventory, which indicates more of a
devotion to the concept of the disposable product.
All this is fine with the Japanese consumer, for whom frequent product
change is part of the entertainment quotient. Innovation is part of the
Japanese fascination with consumer audio equipment. Longevity is not,
although, to be fair, Sony and other Japanese mainstream equipment does
appear to be reasonably, if not extremely, durable.
This new foray is an attempt at the construction of a new image by the
science, not of engineering, but of marketing. There is a collaborative
engineering element, but Sony's engineering position is no longer so strong
that it can extend the state of the art. It can merely polish it.
Will this polishing of the big brass knob, combined with a concerted effort
at product differentiation, bring a flood of disposable income toward Sony's
coffers? A look at the market for sub-notebook laptops might be
instructional.
In Japan, laptops a bit larger than a PDA sell at a premium. Cast magnesium,
lithium polymer batteries, special keyboards and minature displays are used
in machines of between 1.78 and 2.3 pounds, with the heavier units having
built-in DVD drives. ULV (ultra-low-voltage) processors, which average one
watt in power consumption, make feasible battery packs in the 20watt-hour
class.
All this is less for more, cunningly packaged with the finish of fine
jewelry, at premiums of 40% over larger, more powerful laptops that are
marketed worldwide, including the U.S. The Toshiba Libretto was marketed
here for a time, but eventually withdrawn, and it was the last time Japan,
Inc. confused the pleasures of Americans for their own.
The real question is: Can the Japanese fascination with ephemeral esoterica
be transliterated to the culture of Big Sky country?
My guess is that we'll be eating with chopsticks first.