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Sony Network Entertainment president Tim Schaaff retires, House to fill in
Tim Schaaff, president of Sony Network Entertainment, will retire on December 31, to be replaced by Andrew House, Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. House will keep his position with SCEI, and Schaff will become an external director on the SNEI board of directors.The SNEI president manages online services, and Schaaff was president during the 2011 PSN hack. He appeared before Congress to present Sony's security plans at the height of that particular scandal. House became group CEO of SCEI in September 2011 when Kazuo Hirai left that position for a promotion to chairman."Under the leadership of Kaz, and Sir Howard Stringer before him, Sony gave me tremendous support to build a global team to coordinate and lead the company's network service business," Schaaff says. "Together we created something of significant value that will be an important part of Sony's future. I'm grateful to have had this unique opportunity, proud of the commitment my team has demonstrated, and encouraged about Sony's prospects in this strategic area."
Sony Music Unlimited bringing its own streaming flair to iOS soon
We heard back in December that Sony's fledgling Music Unlimited service would eventually be spreading its wings to cover even more operating systems, and here at CES 2012, we've learned that it's Apple's own iOS on the docket. Tim Schaaff, head of Sony Entertainment Network noted this week that the company will offer a gratis iPhone and iPad app for Music Unlimited "at some point this quarter." It's bruited that the iOS edition will offer offline caching for subscribers to its service (at least the premium ones), enabling 'em to save playlists for listening even when away from a network connection. Naturally, Sony's got some stiff competition in the world of iOS tunage, but it's hoping that at least a few million of those iOS users grow its Music Unlimited user base from a million to... well, more than a million. We're assuming that the pricing will remain the same, with $4 per month grabbing you a basic subscription and $10 per month netting you a premo level of service. So, you downloading on day one, or what?
Sony's Tim Schaaff: PSN outage was a 'great learning experience'
We suppose that after having your 77 million-user-strong gaming and shopping network shut down for close to six weeks, you learn how to see the silver lining on even the darkest clouds. For instance, Sony Network Entertainment president Tim Schaaff recently spoke at the GamesBeat 2011 conference about the PSN downtime, and said Sony is "very pleasantly surprised by the experience," explaining that, "the customers have all come back, and network performance is better than ever, sales are better than ever." Though the downtime cost Sony an estimated $171 million, Schaaff added, "It's been a great experience," and later clarifying, "I would not like to do it again. One time was enough. Great learning experience." We agree! Without the ability to play games online on our PS3s for a month and a half, we had time to learn all kinds of stuff, like rollerblading, flying a kite, and some very basic ukulele techniques.
Sony exec says PSN hack was 'a great experience,' apparently means it
The following are what most humans would call "great experiences": eating gelato on a hot summer's day, riding a tandem bike with Anthony Hopkins, or, in the case of Sony executive Tim Schaaff, having your life's work nearly destroyed by a band of hackers. Because for Schaaff, president of Sony Network Entertainment, this spring's persistent PSN outage wasn't so much devastating as it was... enlightening. Here's how he described the hack (and ensuing epiphany) to VentureBeat's Dylan Tweney: "I think for people running network businesses, it's not just about improving your security, because I've never talked to a security expert who said, 'As long you do the following three things you'll be fine, because hackers won't get you... the question is how do you build your life so you're able to cope with those things. It's been a great experience." Phenomenal as it must've felt to get in touch with his inner defeatist, Schaaff admitted that he "would not like to do it again" -- probably because his mouth can only house one foot at a time.
