is Sony in trouble???

[JimBRICK]

I jsut want to know if anyone has the skinny about sony. Last november they satarted giving us sales people contests to sell their products but at the same time radically dropped all the prices on their products. The prizes they gave away were pretty wild too. I'm just wondering if maybe they were trying to get market share or something? anyone know or heard anything

[venomclan]

They have had some ups and downs over the last few years while competition has been fierce. They have a lot riding on BluRay and it will determine their place in the market as video displays are getting cheaper. They need a breakout hit like the ipod, ps2, walkman.
V

[cheddar]

I jsut want to know if anyone has the skinny about sony. Last november they satarted giving us sales people contests to sell their products but at the same time radically dropped all the prices on their products. The prizes they gave away were pretty wild too. I'm just wondering if maybe they were trying to get market share or something? anyone know or heard anything

Seems like it worked. They went from being nowhere on the map to a leader in LCD TV sales over the last year. I think their stock is bouncing along on highs because of news like this:

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070412/3/308pe.html

[JimBRICK]

the prices went wild we were selling the 50 grand wega for 2999 now they're selling them for 1999 with a free stand

[cheddar]

IIRC, Sharp used to be the major LCD game in town with Sony trying to push plasma when HDTVs first came out. Seems like Sony turned their ship around in time and it probably helps that prices are collapsing in the market as a whole with more average people jumping in to the market everyday...

[JimBRICK]

we have these off brand lcd's callede Legends on the floor and the 32" has a picture almost as good as the sharp and actually better then the panasonic lcd

[sucks2beme]

The Koreans have been carving a huge chunk of business away
from the Japanese. This is a very critical time for the Japanese manufactures.
They are in danger of being blown out of the market. Sony appears to
have caught on. Some of the others look like they will fizzle. Kenwood
has been fading for a while.

[bobman1235]

Oh God I would be the happiest person in the world if Sony went under. One of my least favorite companies in the world.

[danger boy]

Well. Sony TV's are great looking picture quality.. but you also pay quite a bit more for those Sony sets.

That, plus the Nintendo Wii is hurting them in the gaming console market. No one expected Nintendo to hit a home run with the Wii. Nintendo hasn't been that much of a threat the past 10 yrs.. then suddenly they are hurting Sony and MS.

[Gaara]

JimBrick,

How long have you been in sales for? Most brands have big incentives like this, when I did Sales Sony had two contests with prizes being SXRDs, and one with a trip somewhere in a year and a half. Within that same year and a half in one store Toshiba offered the same thing with a 62in 720p dlp sales contest, Monster had a trip to see Noel Lee and drive around in his Ferraris, and Sharp had some kind of contest, can't remember what. This was on top of programs like MitsuBucks, where they just give you extra money for selling their products.

That being said I would assume the price drop is because new models are coming out, and the sales event isn't anything special...at least not in the states.

Jared

[Toxis]

Any big vendor runs sales contests. The idea is if you get your product in salesmen's homes, guess who's product they'll recommend more often? It's not Sony only. All audio companies do it, tons of video companies do it... it's how the game of retail works.

[JimBRICK]

I've been there 3 years and they've just started contests again. the newest one is for psp's ps3's and bluray players

[JimBRICK]

funny thing about sony this year is they dropped their prices half way through the normal selling year, it was wild give us points to sell their products then drop the prices we were selling like crazy

[read-alot]

It may have something to do with them eating 5 million laptop batteries.

[dragon1952]

I've been down on Sony since I actually took the cover off my Mom and Dad's 25" tube set to make an adjustment (the picture was stretching) and saw how pathetically cheap the parts and workmanship were. The circuit board with the inputs on it looked like it cost about .50 cents and it broke just pushing the cable back on. It had this little pathetically thin plastic piece holding it upright. The cover was paper thin and broke just from the pressure of the screwdriver when I was screwing it back on.
I just took the thing down to the dumpster and tossed it and gave them a Panasonic that I had laying around.

[danger boy]

it's not just Sony using cheap parts.. that's why there aren't many American electronics makers anymore... they are all overseas.. cheap parts, cheap labor keep costs down.

[engtaz]

HD-DVD and Blue Ray are a win at all cost, run to the end.

[Serendipity]

I've been down on Sony since I actually took the cover off my Mom and Dad's 25" tube set to make an adjustment (the picture was stretching) and saw how pathetically cheap the parts and workmanship were. The circuit board with the inputs on it looked like it cost about .50 cents and it broke just pushing the cable back on. It had this little pathetically thin plastic piece holding it upright. The cover was paper thin and broke just from the pressure of the screwdriver when I was screwing it back on.
I just took the thing down to the dumpster and tossed it and gave them a Panasonic that I had laying around.

I've seen that in mid-90s Sony sets, but recently their quality has been quite top notch.

My Sony 34" XBR has double-reinforced everything, including a tuner that is reinforced so well that it won't break off just by pulling on the cable cord.

[read-alot]

HD-DVD and Blue Ray are a win at all cost, run to the end.

They should have learned a lesson in the BetaMax vs VHS wars.

I did like my sl2500 though.