HowardStringer
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Live from D: Howard Stringer
Seeing Howard Stringer out and about -- let alone interviewed live -- is kind of like seeing a unicorn. Live coverage after the break.
Sony's Howard Stringer to show off new OLED TVs at D
The D conference is in full swing, and the next heavy hitter on deck is Sony CEO Howard Stringer, who's rumored to have a new Sony OLED display for Unkie Walt to play with. We're assuming it'll be a little bit bigger than the XEL-1, but Silicon Alley Insider says it'll come in at just .3mm thick, which is only slightly beefier than a playing card. We're guessing it'll be more like the XEL-1's 3mm, but we'll see what Howie has in store for us -- we wouldn't be opposed to hearing some more about those "slim PS3" rumors, ourselves.
Stringer urges Sony to "get mad," baffle with metaphors
Sony has certainly captured our attention under the command of Sir Howard Stringer. Prior to his March 7th 2005 appointment to the CEO position, it was hard to imagine the beleaguered consumer electronics giant having the guts to take on such aggressive risk taking adventures as Blu-ray, OLED TVs, and in its own small way, the Rolly. Now, after completing his planned turnaround and tripling Sony's profits, Stringer has reportedly let loose with a fire and brimstone speech meant to compel the thousand-strong Sony managers gathered in a closed-door session into action. Urging them to avoid complacency, Stringer said, "I'm asking you to get mad" and be more "energetic," "bold," and "imaginative" at running the business. To sum things up, British-born Stringer slapped up a slide showing a fork in the road. At which point, the Japanese management team whispered, "what's a fork?"
Stringer: PS3 is 'out of the woods'
If a PS3 falls in a forest and no one is around to play it, does it still make a sound? It's a vexing philosophical conundrum to be sure, but thankfully one that's easily resolved simply by paying attention to Sir Howard Stringer. Speaking to Reuters, the Sony CEO provided assurances that PlayStation 3 sales are improving, thus surrounding the system with players and removing it entirely from the metaphorical thicket. It's also a very quiet system, you know."PS3 has now gone past Xbox on the Christmas market," said Stringer. "It's moving into its own as it gets into higher bandwidth ... PS3 is out of the woods and beginning to hold its own." While the black (and possibly white) monolith still lags far behind competitors in the United States, there is a steadily tightening grip on the own in both Japan and -- according to SCEE chief David Reeves -- the European region. [Via Eurogamer]
Sony's Stringer: PS3 games "infinitely more fun" than Wii
Joystiq just noted a peach of a sound-bite from Sony's quip hero, Sir Howard Stringer. In an interview with The Guardian he started by saying, "I'm happy the Wii seems to be running a bit short of hardware." He then chest-thumped a prediction that the PS3, "will come into its own because its [high-end games] are infinitely more fun, demanding and exciting." A theory to be known henceforth as Stringer's Bloated Hyperbole Postulate. [Via Joystiq]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LIV: Stringer on flip-flop bender
Man, talk about being all over the map. One day Sony's Howard Stringer is calling the format war a "stalemate," the next he's claiming Blu-ray is "just a better format." Apparently, having a few weeks to think over that last comment made him realize that his heart was more connected to the first proclamation, as the exec has now come forward and acknowledged that the battle between red and Blu is far from over. Specifically, he stated that "[Blu-ray] had momentum," but he followed up by calling the aforementioned momentum "all it had at the moment." C'mon Mr. Stringer -- pick a line and hold steady, will ya?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sony's Stringer: OLED TV in US "next year"
So we had a bit of bad, OLED-related news this morning. Now for the good. Sir Howard Stringer just announced plans to launch their 3-mm OLED TV into the US market. While it's not coming this year as we had hoped beyond hope, it will be offered for "limited sales" in the US (Sony's second launch market) sometime "next year." Just as soon as Sony ramps up their mass production capabilities. Stringer admits that the expensive, tiny TV is a "symbolic device" for Sony -- fine by us. After years of corporate stoicism we're perfectly happy to see Sony take some risk. Now please resurrect AIBO, Howie, and your innovation hat-trick will be complete.
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LI: Stringer's flip-flop edition
Merely days after Sony's Howard Stringer was scrutinized for calling the format war a "stalemate," the exec has apparently decided to tweak his tone a bit. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Stringer was quoted as saying that Blu-ray had "the momentum and the scale" it needed to eventually reign victorious over its rival. Additionally, he noted that Blu-ray was "just a better format," and he even went so far as to tout BD's excellent security features, which were effectively subverted just weeks ago after being hailed as practically impenetrable. Furthermore, he didn't seem worried over the new, lower prices associated with standalone HD DVD players, but who knows, maybe he'll be singing a different tune next week.[Via Electronista]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XI: Stringer's flip-flop edition
Merely days after Sony's Howard Stringer was scrutinized for calling the format war a "stalemate," the exec has apparently decided to tweak his tone a bit. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Stringer was quoted as saying that Blu-ray had "the momentum and the scale" it needed to eventually reign victorious over its rival. Additionally, he noted that Blu-ray was "just a better format," and he even went so far as to tout BD's excellent security features, which were effectively subverted just weeks ago after being hailed as practically impenetrable. Furthermore, he didn't seem worried over the new, lower prices associated with standalone HD DVD players, but who knows, maybe he'll be singing a different tune next week.[Via Electronista]
Sony's PS3 sales in US more than double since price cut
A few of our readers were scoffing at the idea of a $399 40GB PS3. "What's the big deal," you said. This: according to Sony's CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, they've more than doubled sales in the US in the weeks since its launch. "It's the breakthrough we've been waiting for," said Stringer, "We've been holding our breath. Finally, the turning point has been passed." Prior to the October 18th price cut, Sony was selling just 30k to 40k consoles per week. Sales rose to 75,000 in the week ending October 29 rising to 100,000 the following week. Stringer also credits Wii shortages for helping the boost. Andrew House, Sony's chief marketing officer even takes a jab at HD DVD saying, "It puts us vastly ahead of where the other format is going to be in terms of an installed base in people's homes by the end of this holiday season." Perhaps, but we don't expect the boys at Microsoft, Nintendo, and Toshiba to just roll over and let this progress continue unabated now, do we?
Sony's Stringer: Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle a "stalemate"
Things have been a bit rough for Blu-ray lately. Those massive price cuts gave HD DVD a boost in market share and Paramount's abrupt departure was certainly a tad, shall we say, embarrassing. So we wonder, just what does Sony's boss, and figure-head of the smack-talking Blu-ray Disc Association, have to say about the state of the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD war? It's a "stalemate," according to Sir Howard Stringer. He goes on to downplay the winner as nothing more than a matter of prestige while lamenting the lack of a unified standard. A far cry from the BDA's boastful claim of victory just 11 months ago.[Thanks, Andrew]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XXXIX : Stringer calls Jobs "greedy"
According to the always exploitive New York Post Page Six, an Anderson Cooper-hosted panel with Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, and Barry Diller (amongst others) had been discussing how technology was changing the way people got their entertainment and news, when Sony honcho Howard Stringer apparently accused Steve Jobs of being "greedy." The report claims that Mr. Stringer went on to say that the Steve-man "Wants a world where only he makes money." The knighted gentleman then stormed out of the room and called his assistant on a Sony Ericsson, who proceeded to take him to his hotel where he watched the Sony-produced Spiderman 2 in Blu-ray format on his new Vaio while petting an AIBO with his metallic claw.
Sony: 380 new PlayStation 3 games this business year
At the annual shareholder's meeting in Tokyo today, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer announced that 380 new PlayStation 3 games will be available this business year stating, "Attractive game software is the key to accelerate PS3 growth over the next year." The breakdown is 200 retail, 180 online in the year to March 2008. Sir Howard, we most certainly couldn't agree more and, after seeing some of what you have in store at the Gamer's Day event, we're confident you're not just yanking our chains. But 380 new games? In addition to the 150 currently on the system as reported by Reuters? Wikipedia has a list of 232 titles that are either released or currently in development, so our simple math would indicate an absence of some 300 titles. We think it's gonna be a busy E3 this year ...[Thanks, theburn16]
Sony's back: shifting from "recovery to profitable growth" -- 380 new PS3 games
Howard Stringer -- Sony Corp's CEO and man with the plan -- just exited stage-left from Sony's annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo. To say that the 6,000 attendees were skeptical of said plan would be an understatement given a year of fiscal losses, job cuts, PS3 under-performance (with an eventual Kutaragi dismissal), and an embarrassing and dangerous recall of some 10 million batteries among other missteps. Still, Howard stood strong, assuring investors that Sony has made the swtich from "recovery to profitable growth" and will be a "dominant company" in the digital age. So what's the plan?
Howard Stringer looks into "refining" the cost of PS3
If you want someone to take machete in hand and slice through the vine-ridden jungle of PR spin and get to the heart of darkness (took about ten minutes to hack our own way to that dynamite metaphor), it would be Sony CEO Howard Stringer. He says that there is no question consumers want a price drop on the PlayStation 3 and he's currently looking into ways to deliver on those demands. How much the console would drop in price is the big question and what he and his pals at Sony are trying to figure out.Stringer is pretty certain he will have an answer for the public by Christmas, but took the liberty to compare sales with their most current console to the beginning years of the PlayStation Originale and the PlayStation Deux. We're making up names. Stringer reassured the Sony loyalists that sales are indeed slow, but mimic the previous consoles' trends.He also gave his two cents about the Wii. Take this as you will, Nintendo crowd: "I would be the first to say to you that Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise and a very good business model compared to ours... Because it's cheaper." Adding later that, when asked if the system is more fun or creative than the competition, "No, no. Fun is in the eye of the experiencer..." All in all, we'll have news of a price cut soon and we'll find out if the "cheaper" factor really is a major player in this war of consoles.
Howard Stringer: Sony "studying" PS3 price cut
Not that there's ever been a mainstream game console or gadget that didn't eventually go down in price, but PlayStation fans not ready to plunk down the up to $800 sticker price for a new PS3 can take heart. Sony's Howard Stringer did confirm that Sony is looking at ways to bring down the price on its monolith at some point down the road -- probably way, way down the road -- but unfortunately there wasn't much more to it than that. We know Stringer wants to drop the price on the thing, but as usual one shouldn't expect any formal pre-announcements of price cuts on hardware the company's struggling to make a dime off of.[Via The Inq]
Record loss for Sony predicted by Bloomberg
Sony could be posting a net loss of ¥75.8 billion (US $630 million), its biggest in four years, in the fiscal quarter that ended March 31, according to Bloomberg. The financial publication took a median estimate culled from 11 surveyed analysts.Five of the analysts expect the games division, home to the PlayStation, to post a 121 billion yen (US $1 billion) loss and a record deficit of ¥245 billion (US $2.04 billion) -- figures that may not be offset by Spider-Man 3's record-setting box office returns. Production delays are cited as one of the reasons Sony is currently in third place in worldwide hardware sales, though Sony is still the world's largest console maker due to its PS2 sales. All other divisions are expected to have generated profit.CEO Howard Stringer, pictured, has promised to raise the company's annual operating profit to 5% of revenue by March 2008; analysts expect Sony to have a 4.1% operating margin. Merrill Lynch analyst Hitoshi Kuriyama believes that Stringer can still reach that target if there is no price cut with the PS3. "But I'm expecting a 20 percent price cut," he said. That's a steep figure that, if true, would put the 60GB version at ¥48,000 (US $390) in Japan and $480 in the United States.See Also:Xbox 360 still bumming cash from MicrosoftNintendo announces record year, thanks DS and Wii
Stringer: Euro PlayStation 3 approaching 800,000 sold
Speaking to the Financial Times, Sony's chief executive, Sir Howard Stringer, says that PlayStation 3 sales are close to reaching 800,000 units in Europe after the system's March 23rd launch. Narrowing it down, Stringer says, "I think [in] the first two days in the UK, £100m ($199m) revenue changed hands and that's probably the largest consumer electronics sale in history." While he doesn't comment on the 82% sales drop that followed the next week (perhaps because it "doesn't mean anything"), he notes that the system's reception in Europe has given it better standing in "the perception wars."Though the PS3 may have come down from its exceptional UK launch, the perception that the system is tanking simply because it's still in stock across the country remains. It's not aided by the system's performance in Japan either, and Stringer admits that "perhaps we lived up to the expectations in Europe in a way that perhaps we didn't in Japan." Still, analysts are more upbeat about the PS3's longterm fortunes, with one Yuji Fujimori of Goldman Sachs predicting the system to have a 50% market share within 3 years. Further assurances can be found in Sir Howard's following declaration, "I see no reason why we can't use content to drive the sales of hardware as the network connectivity becomes more sophisticated." Woah, using content to drive hardware sales? Is that some of the crazy "Game 3.0" stuff we've been hearing so much about?
Howard Stringer jumps for joy thanks to European launch
Unless Sir Howard Stringer recently woke up from some kind of coma, he should've been out and about proclaiming his hoorays a few weeks ago -- not now. That aside, he sat down to talk about his impressions on the European launch and most of it was glowing praise. Citing around 800,000 units sold in the region, Howard said "I think [in] the first two days in the UK, GBP 100m (USD 199m) revenue changed hands and that's probably the largest consumer electronics sale in history." He thinks. Again, coma. We're not ragging on the guy, he's nice enough. He felt that Sony lived up to expectations in Europe where they might have fallen short in Japan. As far as competition goes, he also says that the battle isn't over -- the competition are all staring each other in the face, but "we haven't quite shaken hands all the way around." What do you guys think? Was there less hatred over there in Europe upon launch? Were you severely disappointed with what was offered upon launch?
Ce-Oh no he didnt! Part XXXI - Stringer says if PS3 fails, it'll be due to the high price
The veritable genius of economic theory that he is, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has finally figured out a flaw in his grand scheme of world domination via the PS3: that hefty pricetag. "If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 sales as the Mercedes of the videogame field," said Stringer. "PS3 is a different audience and it can be whatever it wants – a home server, game device, even a computer." It seems odd that he'd say the PS3 is limited to a different audience and that it can be "whatever it wants" in the same sentence, but who are we to judge? Stringer also praised the Wii as "a wonderful device," and stated that it "has a different target audience" than that of the PS3. Nothing new there, and his statements on the format war were also unsurprising: "We are selling 3-to-1 versus to them," he said. "At some point Blu-ray will take over based on ... this support." Good to see some things just never change.
