kaz-hirai
Latest
How would you change Sony's Vaio F?
Let's say you bought Sony's VAIO F Series laptop at the end of last year. Would it be a stretch to say you liked how cheap it was and that games played well as long as you dialed down those display settings? Were you not too impressed by the battery life or that touch button on the trackpad? Well, at least you agree with our review of the "desktop replacement" device. But we'd like to know more, dear friends: what gremlins have you uncovered in the numerous hours logged using this unit? What are the nice surprises? If Kaz Hirai was reading this intently waiting for your opinion, what would you tell him you'd like to change?
HTC phones getting PlayStation Suite certification in 2012?
Anonymous sources have told Pocket-lint that Sony will be allowing rival smartphone maker HTC to have PlayStation Certification for its devices. An official announcement is expected at MWC at the end of the month, with devices able to play PSOne games and access to the Android-flavor of the Sony Entertainment Network. Former SCE Chairman (now company president) Kaz Hirai introduced the program open to non-Sony devices at AsiaD last year, possibly to the raised eyebrows of those in the company's revamped mobile division.
Sony's Q3 earnings are in: wider than expected full year loss, lowered sales projections
Sony already revealed Kazuo Hirai will take over for Howard Stringer as CEO and President April 1st last night, and with the big shocker out of the way it's time for the fiscal Q3 reports. After posting a net loss of $346 million last quarter, Sony is now expecting a bigger loss for 2011 than it had previously estimated, as well as lower sales. It's currently showing a net loss for the quarter of 159 billion yen ($2~ billion), or a $1.2 billion operating loss. Blame is put on a larger than expected effect from the flooding in Thailand, strong yen and weakness in cellphones. Sales for the quarter were about $23 billion, down 17.4 percent from the same quarter last year. The consumer products and services division (HDTVs, PS3s, etc.) in particular caught a brick, with an operating loss of over a billion dollars on sales that dropped 24 percent from last year. It recorded a loss on its sale of shares in the S-LCD venture with Samsung, LCD TVs sold for prices lower than its cost reductions, and the PlayStation 3 had the killer combo of higher marketing costs and lower unit sales. Check the PDF and slides linked below for more bad news. We'll let you know what we hear on the earnings call in a few, but until then, Kaz, may we suggest bringing in Jimmy Rollins for tips on breaking out of a slump?
Sony appoints Kaz Hirai to prez and CEO, replacing Sir Howard Stringer
After a bout of he said / she said earlier this year over the possibility of executive deputy prez Kazuo Hirai becoming president and CEO of Sony Corp., Sony has decided to make the news official this morning. As of April 1, 2012, Kaz will step up to the job of current CEO Sir Howard Stringer, effectively kicking off two months of vacation for Stringer before he becomes chairman of the board of directors in June 2012."I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success," Stringer said in the announcement press release. Kaz was ready with the back patting as well, as he said, "Challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position." Hirai is known for having lead Sony Computer Entertainment through its most successful years, as well as being the guy who says "Riiiiiiiidge Racer!" really enthusiastically.Stringer's appointment to the board of directors in June awaits final approval during the annual shareholders meeting in June. If confirmed, he will replace retiring chairman Yotaro Kobayashi, though he will in no way match Kobayashi's totally sweet name.
Sony confirms Kazuo Hirai as new President and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer
Sony has just confirmed Kazuo Hirai as its new CEO and President, validating rumors that have been swirling for a few weeks now. Outgoing CEO Howard Stringer, meanwhile, has been appointed Chairman of Sony's Board of Directors. The Hirai era officially begins April 1st, while Stringer will assume his new role sometime in June (until then, he'll remain executive chairman). Today's announcement, coming a day before Sony's earnings call, brings an end to more than a year's worth of speculation, though Hirai's selection hardly comes as a surprise, considering his recent string of promotions. In April, he was named Executive Deputy President; five months later, he was promoted to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman. According to Stringer, in fact, Sony has been grooming Hirai since as early as 2009, when the Board began designing its succession plans. Kaz, he says, stood out from the crowd: Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now. Kaz, for his part, acknowledges that Sony is going through some "challenging" times at this juncture, but credits Stringer with steadying the ship, and seems clear-minded about the future. "The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses - primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains," the 51-year-old PSN architect explained. "The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony's diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways." Click past the break for Sony's full press release.
Too soon: No plans for next PlayStation at E3, Hirai says
Kaz Hirai, Sony's... um, let's just call him "Mega EXEC" for now, said the company will not announce the PlayStation 4 at this year's E3. The Wall Street Journal reports Hirai is sticking to the 10-year life cycle for the PlayStation 3 and currently sees no need to replace it. "Andy (House) is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3," Hirai said at a CES roundtable with press, referring to statements made by Andrew House that there's no PS4 plan for E3. Meanwhile, over at the other console manufacturers: Whispers of an Xbox tease at CES never occurred, with current chatter of the next console's details being "rumor and speculation." Nintendo will certainly go big at E3 this year with the Wii U, after revealing the hardware at the prior show, and getting ready for the console's launch later this year.
Sony's Kaz Hirai: no PlayStation 4 at E3
It looks like you can officially put any hopes of a PlayStation 4 announcement at E3 to rest. In a roundtable with reporters at CES, Sony's Kaz Hirai responded to a question about recent comments attributed to gaming division head Andrew House by stating that "Andy is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3." As The Wall Street Journal reports, Hirai further added that he's "always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that." That ten-year life cycle would place the PS3's end-of-life around 2016, but as with the PS2 and PS3, we'd expect some overlap between the PS3 and its eventual successor.
Hirai: PlayStation Vita sells 500K, getting Netflix near US / EU launch
Sony's stiff-necked CES presentation has granted another look at PlayStation Vita's commercial impact. Only available in Japan so far, the handheld has now sold 500,000 units, according to Executive Deputy President Kaz Hirai. If that number is accurate -- and indeed sold, not shipped -- it means we can expect reported Vita sales to be higher this week than the last. During its third week of availability, the Vita had sold just under 43,000 units and fewer than the PSP. If it's reached 500,000 by now, it should have sold approximately 65,000 systems during week four. In other news, Hirai announced that Netflix's TV and movie streaming service would be accessible through Vita once it launches outside Japan. Netflix is currently working to have it operational in the United States and Europe on "day one."
Sony refutes Hirai promotion, says 'nothing has been determined'
Sony does not appreciate websites like us gossiping about Kazuo Hirai, it seems. The corporation issued a statement refuting "certain media reports" made "regarding Sony Corporation officers' appointments." We reported last week that Hirai had been promoted to the position of president, following information published by Nikkei. However, Sony said it "has made no announcement in this regard and nothing has been determined at this time." It would appear Nikkei got the story out earlier than Sony expected (wouldn't be the first time!), and Sony's board has yet to approve Hirai's promotion. Or, of course, Nikkei's report could have been inaccurate the first time. In any case, we hope you haven't ordered too many "Don't blame me, I voted for Howard Stringer" bumper stickers.
Nikkei: Kaz Hirai stepping up as Sony president, Stringer staying on as chairman and CEO
It's unfortunate, but it seems unlikely we'll be hearing Sony Computer Entertainment's current "executive deputy president" Kazuo Hirai regaling us with extended "Riiiiiiiiidge Racer!" shouts much more, as Nikkei is reporting he'll be taking over as president of Sony Corporation in the coming months. Current president, CEO and chairman Sir Howard Stringer will apparently be losing a third of his title to Kaz, and the move is expected "as soon as April," as translated by our bilingual cohorts at Engadget. When Hirai was promoted to the deputy president role earlier this year, he became the heir apparent to Stringer's job as president, so it's not exactly an enormous surprise to hear this report. Sony had yet to confirm the news as of publishing, but Nikkei isn't exactly known for its false reporting. All the same, we've reached out for confirmation. Update: Sony tells us it "Doesn't comment on rumor or speculation." Not exactly a denial, but take that as you will.
Sony's Kaz Hirai to step up as president as early as April (updated)
Nikkei is reporting that Sony will be promoting current Executive Deputy President Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai to president as soon as April, while Howard Stringer is expected to remain chairman and CEO of the company. As you may recall, Sony started its search for a new president as far back as November 2010, and with Kaz's two promotions last year (to Executive Deputy President in April and to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman in September), it isn't surprising that he's the chosen one to pick up some of Sir Howard's work. It'll be a while before we see the consequences of this promotion, and anything can happen between now and the board meeting as early as next month to seal the deal; but here's hoping that under Kaz, Sony will go easy on all these new memory card formats while it further unifies its various groups within the corporation. Update: Bloomberg has received a brief statement from Sony clarifying that the board has not yet made a decision on this promotion, which isn't really a denial of the plan considering the final board meeting has yet to take place.
Sony predicting another year of losses, despite growing games sales
2011 hasn't been the best of years for the electronics manufacturing giant known as Sony. Its not just that the company's television and mobile phone divisions have failed to gain much ground against their competitors, but a string of bad luck -- a major Japanese earthquake, flooding in Thailand, rioters in Britain and hackers in, well, cyberspace -- has affected their ability to supply consumers with their products. Citing these events, Sony is anticipating its fourth unprofitable year in a row. This news comes from a New York Times report, which says Sony's video game business is rallying due to strong interest in the Vita, and the ever-increasing sales of the PS3. That just goes to show you that ... video games are better than cameras and televisions. We encourage Canon, Nikon and Panasonic to give up their increasingly irrelevant platforms, and start making video game consoles. Actually, wait: We're going to need TVs, still. You guys keep doing what you're doing.
Kaz Hirai: Sony is 'in discussions with non-Sony companies' over PlayStation Suite
Wondering whether Sony's PlayStation Suite will ever really leave its nest? While the SDK won't be out until next month, SCE Chairman Kaz Hirai just told us here at AsiaD that this Android-friendly framework's still open to all other manufacturers, and he emphasized that it "isn't an ecosystem where we want to keep everything within the Sony family" while pimping the three PlayStation Certified Android devices so far: Xperia Play, Tablet S and Tablet P. Kaz also confirmed that Sony's currently "in discussions with non-Sony companies to bring them onboard," but as to when this will come to fruition, the company will make those announcements "when it's time to go public with it," so we shall see.
Sony's Kazuo Hirai: liveblog from AsiaD!
We're back! AsiaD's concluding today, but we've got a couple of big hitters left on the schedule. Kicking things off this morning -- yeah, it's morning, we're in the future -- is Sony's Executive Deputy President, Kazuo Hirai, and we're guessing he'll be shooting it straight regarding the PS Vita, those nasty "outages" and whatever else he feels like keeping us abreast on. Join us after the break for the blow-by-blow!
Live from Sony IFA 2011 press event
What better way to kick this year's IFA conference in beautiful Berlin, Germany than a good old fashioned Sony press conference? We're getting ready to get things started here, so sit down, grab a beverage and reach for those 3D glasses to read along at home [note: this liveblog is not in 3D]. Photos by Zach Honig.
PlayStation Vita coming to US, Europe in early 2012
Sony is adjusting its PlayStation Vita launch plans and rolling back to an earlier claim: that the new portable system would be out in "at least one territory" by the end of 2011. According to an AP report, Japan has been selected as 2011's sole recipient of the Vita. Speaking to the press in Tokyo, SCEI Chairman Kaz Hirai clarified that the PlayStation Vita would miss the holidays in America and Europe, instead rolling out in those regions during early 2012. [Update: Previously, Sony said it would be available in the global market "starting" at the end of 2011.] Hirai insisted that the launch would not be accompanied by a lowered price, despite Nintendo's hasty and reactionary price drop on the Nintendo 3DS. "We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable," Hirai said. "There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price." The PlayStation Vita will start at $249, alongside a 3G-enabled version for $299.
Hirai promoted to Chairman of SCEI, House becomes CEO
Just one day after announcing a new board member, Sony revealed a bit more corporate shuffling, this time at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Kazuo Hirai, formerly President and Group CEO (and chief apologizer), has been promoted to Chairman, effective September 1. SCEE president Andrew House will take over as Group CEO of SCEI, with SCEE Executive Vice President Jim Ryan taking over his old job at SCEE. While this may seem like an inopportune time to reward executives with promotions, the shifts were prompted by the retirement of current Chairman Akira Sato effective August 31. Also retiring: Ken Kutaragi, who left his role as Honorary Chairman of SCEI yesterday, presumably finding the honorary demands of the position too honorarily strenuous. He will remain at Sony Corporation as "senior technology advisor."
Kaz Hirai to become Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman, leave Andrew House with tough CEO gig
When you've had to deal out as many public apologies as Sony has had to perform over its protracted PSN hacking saga, the typical expectation is that someone somewhere will be getting fired or "reshuffled" into a new post. No firings at PlayStation headquarters, however our old pal Kaz Hirai is getting a new position as Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman, with Andrew House succeeding him in the CEO hot seat. Mr. House was previously Sony's PlayStation chief in Europe, so he's simply stepping up to be responsible for the company's global operations, but Kaz's new duties are less clearly defined. Both changes will go into effect on September 1st, a day after current Chairman Akira Sato retires, giving both Kaz and Andrew a little time to get accustomed to their new(ish) surroundings before tackling Sony's massively important PS Vita launch at the tail end of the year.
NGP officially named 'PlayStation Vita'
It's not exactly the world's best kept secret, is it? Sony's next handheld officially became the "PlayStation Vita" this afternoon at the company's E3 2011 press conference. And you can stop pronouncing it "Vite-Uh," as Sony Computer Entertainment head Kaz Hirai repeatedly pronounced it "Veeta." Hazaa! We'll have a ton of hands-on coverage with PlayStation Vita's games as the week progresses, but we'd love to hear your reaction to the new name right now in the comments.
Sony will stream PlayStation E3 press conference straight to PlayStation Blog
Never one to be left out, Sony has finally announced its plans to stream its E3 press conference directly into the PlayStation Blog. This follows in the footsteps of Nintendo, Microsoft and, despite our strenuous pleas to reconsider, even Konami. Make sure to circle June 6th in your Sexy Sony Executive calendar (June is Jack Tretton's month!), because things get going at 5pm PT. Though Sony has something of a reputation for its press conferences dragging on (and on and on and on), we don't think this year's conference will take up the entire five hour event. Yes, Sony's event on the 6th is five hours long and yes, if it's all press conference we'll kill ourselves too. And that is where suicide pacts come from.
