Sony launches "Designed for Walkman" program -- accessory manufacturers point, laugh

Sony Corp just announced its new "Designed for Walkman" accessory program in a bid to boost third-party accessory development. Under the terms, any vendor that signs up gets full access to the specs for Sony's proprietary WM-PORT terminal... about 3.5 years too late. In return, licensees can prominently display this fancy, "Designed for Walkman" logo on their packaging and products as they grab for a slice of the meager accessory revenues made possible by the 4th place MP3 manufacturer owning just 2% market share. Hot Sony, hot.

[Amin @ Sep 8th 2008 3:30AM]

Designed for Failu®e

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Sep 8th 2008 6:44PM]

They should adopt the apple port, electrical specs, communications (data), and control protocols. A better idea would be to develop an open accessory standard (like ATX, m-atx, etc for computers) then all PDP makers would be able match up with any accessory or dock. Your expensive B&W or Krell speaker dock and all automobiles would just as compatable with Sony as it would be With Creative. If enough manufacturers jumped on to this idea and stuck to it, it may just force Apple to adopt such a concept in future iterations of the iPOD, then the world would be just one step closer to unified tranquil harmony and a much nicer place to live.

[tom @ Sep 8th 2008 3:32AM]

Agree....3.5 years too late, but better late than never.

Btw, that "Designed for Walkman" should come with an asterisk.

* - Accessories will not support Sony Ericsson Walkman Phones. They use a different port.

[avester @ Sep 8th 2008 3:47AM]

Those are not Walkmans, they are regular phones with MP3 player.

You can't call a phone with a mp3 player that has a crappy UI and slim selection of formats an iPod, can you?

[helloUser @ Sep 8th 2008 3:51AM]

avester:

i agree, but to an extent. the sony ericssons with mp3 playback are still branded as 'Walkman'

[Cal @ Sep 8th 2008 3:54AM]

No you can't, since an ipod doesn't have phone functions

[John @ Sep 8th 2008 9:23AM]

^ Where have YOU been?

[avester @ Sep 8th 2008 10:07AM]

Yeah, I know that, it was kinda the point of my post, stupid name for a regular MP3 player feature...

[michas_pi @ Sep 8th 2008 3:34AM]

lol

[helloUser @ Sep 8th 2008 3:39AM]

i'd rather use a sony mp3 player than ipod........

no software required to transfer mp3s and unlike ipods, has 30+ hours of battery life (40+ recently). oh, i almost forgot, the important bit:

sound quality. something that ipods been pretty bad at doing, while sony's been among the best. though i have a feeling the engadget trolls (apple/ipod loving steve jobs fanboy idiots) will disagree with me.

[gad get @ Sep 8th 2008 4:40AM]

Yeah, but what does it matter if the ignorant and brainwashed disagree with you?

BTW, other than Apple, why does nobody seem to bother marketing their mp3 players? The market for these devices is huge!

[Mobile Phone Diva @ Sep 8th 2008 3:08PM]

I'm with you! Sony makes some seriously good full featured players!! The sound quality is EXCELLENT!

[Cunthor @ Sep 8th 2008 3:46AM]

I hate when dickheads write articles like this... So because its late, it is not worth doing? If you are a manufacturer making accessories, this is good news since you're essentially giving them a source of income, and if you're a walkman owner you get more choice with accessories, not just Sony ones (which are sparse at best). So why all the hate Ricker? Did Sony molest you as a child?

[waiownsyou @ Sep 8th 2008 4:03AM]

I hate it when corporations rape children! When will the pedophilia end? DAMN YOU PEDOBEAR!

But since they're dickheads, I'm sure they were asking for it.

/thread

[ntlam @ Sep 8th 2008 3:47AM]

yes... another business model... just like designed for XP, designed for Vista....and we know that designed for vista computer can't even play games and only good for internet, office documents..

[ArcticFox @ Sep 8th 2008 3:57AM]

Pray tell, what does being "designed for vista" have to do with playing games?

"designed for vista" just means that the computer has all the relevant hardware to run all the features of vista such as aero. Please get a clue.

[Dr. Larry @ Sep 8th 2008 8:44AM]

Whoever brought up "designed for Vista" branding sure opened up a can of worms. Vista is not one integrated OS family, but a bunch of loosely similar-feeling junkware. Those labels mean nothing. On the other hand, Sony is right to license peripherals because the consumer can be more assured of buying something truly compatible.

Kudos to Apple for not foisting the same sort of garbage on end users that MS has. Sadly the standard American corporate model (a la "designed for [your product name here]") loves to hand people partial solutions. Half-baked products that require additions or enhancements to do the things shown in a corporate marketing departments' ads result in outright brand-hatred. Would you really rather own a Chrysler or a Toyota (as long as nobody was looking)?

Were it not for an amazingly resourceful legal department, Microsoft would have succumb to brand-abhorrence years ago. On the other hand, most Apple products function as advertized right out of the box. Unfortunately corporate America has a large and ever increasing investment in MS products because IT departments are mostly run by either unimaginative senior admins who never figured out how to go out and do something really innovative, or retread MBAs who've been fed lots of bull about compatibility in their business schools.

Like Apple, Sony's pretty good about this too. Conversely, if you ever have $20K sitting around, order an American car without the extras--none, nada, zilch--Good luck selling it (I'm sorry sir, the steering wheel, seats and carpeting are optional features!) I've designed computers, I've run a car rental company, I've taught in the U.S. and abroad and I've held at least a dozen more jobs over the past 30 years. The bottom line is that Americans are so greedy that we tend to nickle-and-dime ourselves into non-competitiveness. No one wants to buy our stuff because that means buying a problem in need of solutions (rather than a solution to existing problems).

[)law( @ Sep 8th 2008 3:55AM]

wow could you be a little more negative I couldn't hear it over my in ear skullcandy headphones.....

[pizzicato @ Sep 8th 2008 3:57AM]

Hmm, how many MP3 players are out there? And what’s 2% of that? Must be a really small Number. Seems pointless to me. Let’s say as pointless as designing software and accessories for computers with a 6% market share.

On the other hand, you don’t have to put your walkman in a sock or it breaks.

[chickenator @ Sep 8th 2008 4:01AM]

*yawn*

[enshong @ Sep 8th 2008 4:15AM]

because these computers with 6% market share are lovable and their owners care for them?
same as those media players that people put into socks since they probably are too lovable for their owners...

bottom-line.. it's all about how much their owners are passionate about their things.. you probably don't care about your things, no?

[Hamidxa @ Sep 8th 2008 4:20AM]

Zing!!!

[CaramelZappa @ Sep 8th 2008 4:16AM]

Remember when Engadget actually wrote articles?

[Hellios @ Sep 8th 2008 4:21AM]

Not really.

[Cal @ Sep 8th 2008 4:23AM]

Well at least this is better than 10 apple posts everyday...

[CaramelZappa @ Sep 8th 2008 4:26AM]

Better? The entire post is basically mocking Sony for not having the mp3 market share that apple has.

[Julian Bond @ Sep 8th 2008 4:57AM]

"Sony's proprietary WM-PORT terminal" There's your problem, right there.

Can we please have just two connectors on PMPs. A Standard 3.5mm jack and a standard mini-USB for data and charging. I'm looking at you, Apple.

[Raju @ Sep 8th 2008 7:15AM]

I never like mp3 players. Because of multimedia mobile. If i can play music with mobile so why should i carry extra mp3 player

[Major4Play @ Sep 8th 2008 6:30AM]

Having used (then sold) an iPod, I really like Walkman phones, they work very well have great sound quality. Why with the hating ?

Just a pity Sony Walkmans & SE Walkmans don't use the same ports and software.

[THJ @ Sep 8th 2008 11:47AM]

I agree. They make those 128k files sound like 192k files!

Seriously, for 99% of people that use digital media players, the higher the sound quality of the device, the crappier the songs sound. mp3s that sound great on an DAP sound like shite on a proper stereo.

I do agree with some of the above posters though, how about standardizing connections instead of licensing. Sony is the worst at this (MS, digital camera, walkman, etc all use different media than their competitors), but Apple, with it's Dock connector, is a violator as well. On the flip side though, if you have >50% market share with a product, accessories are generally easy to find. Trying to get a replacement charger for anything Sony while on vacation is a PITA, but a replacement iPod charger can be found at just about any drugstore.

(Inc comments about magsafe, how I'm a stupid fanboy, how much linux rules, and Soviet Russia playing doom while blending waffles)

[tekdroid @ Sep 8th 2008 6:39AM]

In other news, it's 1984 and Sony has enjoyed 5 years of Walkman success and there's no point in anyone else competing with their huge market share.

IC storage memory has been invented but there's no point competing with the market share of tapes...

Plastics have been invented but there's no point competing with the market share of wood...

FLAC has been invented http://flac.sourceforge.net and is the most popular compressed lossless audio codec, but there's no point competing with the market share of MP3.

Sound quality has been given much attention with good choice of IC components and audio-centric circuit design, but there's no point competing with the market share of tinny krapboxes...

I can go on...

[Kspraydad @ Sep 8th 2008 6:39AM]

I luvs my walkman. I'm glad SONY is working on supporting me, there customer.

[naymyotun @ Sep 8th 2008 6:43AM]

i love all sony product

[AR @ Sep 8th 2008 8:06AM]

Die Sony die...though sell the Bravia to a good company first

[Lethal @ Sep 8th 2008 8:11AM]

They still make Walkmans?

[Darren @ Sep 13th 2008 12:06AM]

They're makin' 'em, but no one's buying. They've effectively driven that brand deep, deep into the cold, cold ground, which is quite astonishing.

[cf18 @ Sep 8th 2008 8:14AM]

Just go to www.sonystyle.com and search "ipod". Sony already made tons of iPod specific accessories - speaker/radio with iPod dock, iPod wireless transmitter etc. Can they just clone the iPod dock in their walkman? Then at least their own Sony accessories will work.

[Lethal @ Sep 9th 2008 6:55AM]

They can license the Apple dock connector... it is a patented design.

I'm not sure why Apple would want Sony devices to work in iPod gear though...

[nathan.wong @ Sep 8th 2008 8:56AM]

If you wonder why Engadget is so against Sony look no further than their main page today. It has a huge Apple advertisement. 'nuff said.

[THJ @ Sep 8th 2008 11:49AM]

You have figured it out! The conspiracy has been discovered, and you, Mr. Internet Sleuth, have saved the day.

[Dr. Larry @ Sep 8th 2008 8:58AM]

Love Asian grammar. Concise. Try to use English grammar when adding comments to English-language areas. Please find a native English speaker to teach you and ignore non-native teachers regardless of their educational attainments.

アジアの文法を使用すると言語を日本語サイトです。ありがとうございました。

한국 사이트에 아시아 문법과 언어를 사용, 감사합니다.

gǎn xiè

[tantons @ Sep 8th 2008 9:11AM]

to Dr. Larry

I've designed computers, I've run a car rental company, I've taught in the U.S. and abroad and I've held at least a dozen more jobs over the past 30 years.

If you know so much, then why can't you hold a job? sounds like you average less than 2 years per job you've supposedly had.

[WL @ Sep 8th 2008 9:21AM]

maybe it's a sign of larger forthcoming plans by sony

[Oliver @ Sep 8th 2008 9:59AM]

If I sign up can I stick that logo on my ears? My ears are quite the number. Compatible with both Walkman and iPods! But not Zunes.

[jupiterthunder @ Sep 8th 2008 11:30AM]

Genius. Let's face it. People that look for "designed for" labels generally don't realize that they can buy things aren't "designed for" their product that work with their product. Sony is positioning to tap that market.

[Eric @ Sep 8th 2008 11:52AM]

Exactly. That's why many people think they need "iPod headphones."

Some people actually buy Apple headphones as replacements, despite that same $20 being able to buy you headphones that are much better.

I use Apple In-Ear Headphones, and I feel that they were worth my $40. But I certainly wouldn't buy the $20 headphones that come with an iPod, when I could buy something very similar for $3.

[LT73 @ Sep 8th 2008 1:42PM]

Sony...

PLEASE... PLEEEEAAASE give up on the proprietary B.S.

Start acting in a co-operative fashion and your stock will surely rise.

Get it together guys, seriously.

[Download Runescape Autominer @ Nov 21st 2008 7:55PM]

I've taught in the U.S. and abroad and I've held at least a dozen more jobs over the past 30 years.

[get paid to take surveys @ Nov 21st 2008 8:05PM]

sign of larger forthcoming plans by sony