If this year’s announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show are any indication, Sony believes a shotgun blast to the face is better than a precise yet deadly incision at one of the body’s many weak spots -- the company announced a huge swath of product in every conceivable category, but apparently left most of their “Wow” at home.
Sony has something for everyone at this year’s CES, with no less than 70 products announced on Wednesday in 14 different categories ranging from televisions to Blu-ray players, VAIO computers, camcorders and iPod speaker docks. Perhaps feeling the need to be different, the Japanese electronics giant announced only one smartphone (the Android-powered Sony Ericsson Xperia arc) and no tablet or portable media player to speak of, unless you count the Sony Dash Portable and three updates to their Sony Reader hardware.
Needless to say, announcing so many models in so many product categories all at once immediately sent tech journalists reaching for their pain relief medication of choice -- which will no doubt confuse the average consumer even more.
Among the highlights are nine different television models (five of which are 3D capable) to be released between February and May, five Blu-ray players ranging from $150 to $300 (plus three more Blu-ray home theatre systems ranging from $400-$600), 11 different digital cameras, a dizzying 16 separate camcorder models and a mere four models of headphones.
iPod docks continue to be one of Sony’s more interesting product categories, with four Wi-Fi models announced this week (plus a Wi-Fi enabled Universal Remote Control), all of which can use the forthcoming Media Remote app for iOS or Android to stream music to the dock. However, Sony appears to have missed an opportunity here to jump on board Apple’s AirPlay technology, and all of the Wi-Fi docks are in the $200-$300 price range. The company also announced three new premium iPod speaker docks without Wi-Fi as well.
The one category that Sony appears to have completely abandoned is portable media players, which rival Samsung has now stepped into in a big way with their Android-powered Galaxy Player. Sony has two new Dash products coming this summer, one of which is a portable seven-inch model, but otherwise the company was completely missing in action, perhaps realizing that they’ve been overshadowed by Korean (LG, Samsung) or American (Apple) competitors.
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Loup407
January 06, 2011 at 8:16am
Sony seems to have been lost in space for years. Even if you give them a pass on having once owned, then lost, the personal music player (Walkman, for you youngsters); they've given up category after category. The Sony Vaio was responsible for me and my company switching to Macs. Two brand new laptops broke within a month after purchase, and trying to get them fixed or replaced under warranty was an impossible task. Thank heavens for eBay. Sony has been squandering resources for years, churning out over-priced product that is tough to use, breaks easily, and impossible to find support. I wouldn't even buy a Sony alarm clock these days.
