Tag: sony

Sony has announced nine new flash-based MP3 players to compete with Apple’s iPod shuffle. “The lineup includes a set of cigarette lighter-sized models, a bit more expensive than the iPod Shuffle but with a much longer advertised battery life–50 hours of playback time with a rechargeable battery compared to Apple’s 12 hours. And unlike the Shuffle, the Sony players have bright, 3-line screens to display song information. A 512MB model costs $130 and a 1GB model costs $180.

Sony has named the UK-born head of its US operations, Howard Stringer, as its new chairman and chief executive officer. “Determined to break with its past, Sony tapped a foreigner as CEO Monday and vowed to turn around its lagging electronics sector by linking it with its entertainment businesses–a goal that has long eluded the company. A native of Wales who later acquired U.S.

Following Apple’s lead, Sony has quietly opened seven retail stores across the U.S. since launching its first last year. The company said it plans to open its 11th and 12th stores this month, and expects to have about 30 Sony Style stores open by April 2006. Some electronics retailers worry they will lose sales because of the new stores, and fear other manufacturers will follow suit and open their own stores too. Read More

Sony will launch a marketing blitz next week in Europe for its Connect online store in an effort to derail the momentum of Apple’s iTunes, according to a Reuters report. “The electronics giant said on Thursday it would heavily promote the Connect service in new advertisements for four Walkman products, including the recently launched NW-HD1 hard disc player.

Sony said today that is working to add native MP3 support to its portable music players. “The shift from reliance on its proprietary Atrac format will begin with flash memory-based players, but plans are still being finalized on how and when products will add MP3 support,” reports CNET News.com. “Sony is revisiting its MP3 strategy at a time when competition in the digital music market is heating up–and threatening to leave the company behind.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs offered Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei the chance for Sony to join Apple’s iTunes Music Store as a partner, the Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun newspaper reports. “The offer would have allowed for joint operation of the service, the newspaper says. The offer was made when the two met at the Sony Open golf tournament held in Hawaii this January, according to the paper, which quoted unnamed Sony sources.

The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg says that Sony’s 20GB Network Walkman NW-HD1 digital music player is no match for Apple’s iPod. “While the new Sony is smaller than the iPod and has much better battery life, it is markedly inferior overall,” Mossberg says.

Sony has announced a reduction in price of its Memory Stick and Memory Stick PRO Due flash media today. Starting today, the 512MB full-size Memory Stick PRO media will be priced at about US$180 and the 256MB Memory Stick PRO card will be available for about $90. The 512MB Memory Stick PRO Duo media is now priced at about $250 and the 256MB Memory Stick PRO Duo media has been reduced to about $95. Read More

Apple has responded to Sony’s claims that its new 20GB Network Walkman music player can hold 13,000 high-quality songs. The Wall Street Journal reports (paid subscription required): “In a statement, Apple said Sony isn’t accurately depicting the song capacity of its new 20GB Network Walkman.

by Larry Angell – Sony has announced two new hard drive-based digital music players that appear to be the closest thing to a threat that Apple’s iPod has encountered. Sony’s NW-HD1 Network Walkman weighs less than 4 ounces, making it the world’s smallest portable audio device built with a 1.8-inch, 20GB hard drive, according to the company. (The iPod weighs in at 5.6 ounces.) Sony claims the device’s internal rechargeable battery provides up to 30 hours of continuous playback, while the iPod offers up to eight.

Sony said today that it will stop selling its Clie handheld personal digital assistants (PDA) in the United States later this year. The electronics giant said it plans to continue to develop and sell Clie PDAs in Japan. “Presently, Sony is reassessing the direction of the conventional PDA, and Sony will not introduce any new handled Clie models in the United States this fall,” Sony told CNET News.com. “Product development and sales continue for the Japanese market only.