Has Sony lost its touch with the common man?

[RipDogger]

Just curious, but I wonder if anyone else out there feels that Sony has lost touch with the needs of its clie customers, ie, the common man?

Does Sony need a new marketing/ customer relations head/team who can relate with the needs of the public better than the current batch of knuckle heads?

And is there anyway we can bring about this change? Perhaps appling job pressure via a relentless letter writing campaign by the entire clie community will get these money grubbin' execs off their duffers and open the way for better software to untap the seemingly limitless potential for our Clies.

[Unregistered]

Does the common man use a Clie?

[SamuraiCatJB]

I thought all world wide businesses had money grubbing exects... thought that was the point of selling something.... ;)

[bucalo9]

I agree with both responses above. I don't see Clies sold at Walmart or Kmart. I think too, the knuckle heads have to rotate in and out, to keep fresh and on the edge anyway-standard procedure.

Someday I gonna be a money grubbing exec. My mom said I could.

[n2ifp]

Sony needs some new stylish young execs with panache! Get rid of the old fossils!

[Shrink]

Originally posted by n2ifp
Sony needs some new stylish young execs with panache! Get rid of the old fossils!
HEY! Watch what you say about old fossils, I'm one of them;)
IMO, Sony has never been THAT in touch with any of its customers, be they common or?
alan

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by Shrink

HEY! Watch what you say about old fossils, I'm one of them;)
IMO, Sony has never been THAT in touch with any of its customers, be they common or?
alan

I am an old fossil in additon to being an old fart too... :p

[Unregistered]

ewwwwwwwww

[elf]

Sony does not make cool toys for the "common man". Sony markets its toys for those men and women who are willing to pay a premium for 1) the Sony name and 2) for Sony engineering.

The common man buys products from Palm, Panasonic, Sharp, etc.

[patryn121]

This has to be the most insane thread I've ever read.

Serena the Best Buy Chick

;-)

[benixau]

Originally posted by elf
The common man buys products from Palm, Panasonic, Sharp, etc.

The common man sometimes, can not afford the luxury of a sony - doesn't meant that they are a common man. But generally - very true.

[Unregistered]

might want to check out the ages of many of the Sony execs before you make presumptions.

chronological age is a poor yardstick anyway. Some act/think elderly at 50 and many do not.

[zipslack]

At 33, I may or may not be an old fart (depending on who's doing the name-calling) and I'm probably too tech-oriented to be a "common-man", so maybe my views don't count...

1. It doesn't matter whether Sony understand the common-man -- there is no such beast. If there is, he/she probably doesn't even know what a PDA is.

2. Sony's name and engineering didn't impress me any more than Palm's name and engineering. I bought my T415 because of Hi-Res, MS storage, and price (about $100).

3. Frankly, I don't understand why people would pay $500 for a PDA and then use it to listen to MP3s and play games - go get a Rio and a Gameboy, both of which do a better job for each purpose. But apparently, there is a world full of such idiots - so I guess Sony does know what the "common-man" wants.

4. I may be completely wrong, but I think Sony would pay more attention to its focus groups and marketing guys than a bunch of folks at a website that like to insult Sony execs.

Okay, salvo launched....flame away.

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by zipslack
At 33, I may or may not be an old fart (depending on who's doing the name-calling) and I'm probably too tech-oriented to be a "common-man", so maybe my views don't count...

1. It doesn't matter whether Sony understand the common-man -- there is no such beast. If there is, he/she probably doesn't even know what a PDA is.

2. Sony's name and engineering didn't impress me any more than Palm's name and engineering. I bought my T415 because of Hi-Res, MS storage, and price (about $100).

3. Frankly, I don't understand why people would pay $500 for a PDA and then use it to listen to MP3s and play games - go get a Rio and a Gameboy, both of which do a better job for each purpose. But apparently, there is a world full of such idiots - so I guess Sony does know what the "common-man" wants.

4. I may be completely wrong, but I think Sony would pay more attention to its focus groups and marketing guys than a bunch of folks at a website that like to insult Sony execs.

Okay, salvo launched....flame away.

Your right, I am just a 52 year old kid who likes his toys, but also likes them to work right. Opinions are like backsides, everyone has one :D! I can't believe Sony doesn't know what people want, common or uncommon. Their execs have their heads up their backsides in my opinion! BTW, Since I have spent so much money on Sony products it gives me the right to bash them :)!

There is always something that comes up short in an otherwise fine product that is irratating...

[Unregistered]

Does seem a waste of time to bash here. If you have a problem with them doesn't contacting the company seem more logical?

Now if it is just a matter of blowing then I suppose it doesn't matter where you do it.

[JackAxe]

The only thing SONY is in touch with, is are wallets.

<]=)

[mouthdrummer]

Originally posted by elf
Sony does not make cool toys for the "common man". Sony markets its toys for those men and women who are willing to pay a premium for 1) the Sony name and 2) for Sony engineering.

The common man buys products from Palm, Panasonic, Sharp, etc.

OUCH!!
Although, as a former Palm junkie, I feel as though I've graduated to a new level of addiction, kind of like a crack addict who's upgraded to heroin

[TechnoCat]

Originally posted by RipDogger
Just curious, but I wonder if anyone else out there feels that Sony has lost touch with the needs of its clie customers, ie, the common man?
What's your baseline?

Sony gained marketshare more than anyone but Dell, and did it in a different way than Dell... Dell underpriced the market, Sony gave users different feature mixes.

So if you consider Sony out of touch, what does that say for Palm, Compaq/HP, ViewSonic, HandEra, HandSpring, etc.

Or could it be that you're just bitter because they didn't listen to you, and instead built a line that the common man likes, leaving your particular idiosyncracies out?

For example, consider the SJ22... it's cheap, functional, and outcompetes other equivalently-priced models. The common man quite likes it. Sure the Zire outsells it, at half the price, but that's an entirely different class that you'd be even less happy with.

Meanwhile the SJ33 was the best thing running in the sub-$300 class until ambushed by the Z71, and it's still competitive as long as you're a user rather than a psycho-nerd... by which I mean someone who focuses more on OS version and megahertz than on functionality and usability as a PDA as shipped.

And the NX-series reportedly out-sold Sony's expectations.

So which mythical "common man" are they missing, and who is doing a better job for them?

[robrecht]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. I doubt it. I've yet to receive an intelligent response from SONY that adequately addressed my letters
4. Also, doubtful.

Watch out for the whiner alert. Some people at this site cannot tolerate very well the opinions or experience of others if they may in any way reflect poorly on SONY.

[TechnoCat]

Originally posted by robrecht
Watch out for the whiner alert. Some people at this site cannot tolerate very well the opinions or experience of others if they may in any way reflect poorly on SONY.
Gosh, I warn people about whiners to, but exactly the opposite. It seems to me that there's a very noisy contingent here that takes very personal offense at the fact that Sony did not consult them personally on what to put in. You can read over past messages and see that Sony was incredibly stupid to put a keyboard on the TG50 or not put VG/320x480 on their entry models, to not put WiFi in the TG50, to weigh down the NX series with all the features and not putting in extra wireless features, by integrating cases onto the SJ33 and TG50 while at the same time Palm was dumb for not integrating them into the Z71 and T|C, and so on.

From what I've read here, the only possible sign of intelligence from Sony would be if they released a system the size of the SJ33, thinness of the TG50, with a keyboard AND 320x480 VG AND hardbuttons, with MP3, CF-support, WiFi, Bluetooth, integrated-but-seamlessly-removable flip cover, 64MB RAM, 400MHz processor, a screen without the illumination waves from the LEDs, full PalmOS sound API compatibility despite Sony having an audio DSP long before Palm did, full Documents-to-Go in ROM, flashable ROM so none of the 64MB RAM needs to be used for storage, user-replaceable (and cheap) batteries, and Sega emulator.

Where are the Sony-fascists you refer to? (I can't possibly be one; our current contingent today is a Z71 and a IIIc.)

[TechnoCat]

Oh yeah, and it would have to sell for under $300 because of the Z71 and PPC competition and to stay in touch with the "common man".

[MaryJoS]

Originally posted by zipslack
3. Frankly, I don't understand why people would pay $500 for a PDA and then use it to listen to MP3s and play games - go get a Rio and a Gameboy, both of which do a better job for each purpose. But apparently, there is a world full of such idiots - so I guess Sony does know what the "common-man" wants.

Ah, nothing like someone who thinks everyone is an "idiot" that doesn't see things the way they do. I personally love my Clie's ability to play MP3s and games and not having to lug around two other devices (and considerable extra weight) for those occassional times (and often unexpected) when I want to play a game or listen to music. Convenience means a lot to some people, even if it does not to you.

[robrecht]

Originally posted by TechnoCat

Gosh, I warn people about whiners to, but exactly the opposite. ... Where are the Sony-fascists you refer to? (I can't possibly be one; our current contingent today is a Z71 and a IIIc.)

I think both the whiners and those who whine about whiners can both display immaturity, but I did not have specific individuals in mind.

Now that you mention it, maybe the 64 MB of RAM should be user adjustible so that battery life can be preserved when it is not needed by the common man. ;-)