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I heard the announcement this morning that Sony‘s profits are down by 95% due to it’s products not selling.
I know that’s a disturbing thing, although not unusual to hear in today’s economy.
As for a partial reason WHY their new products are not selling, I think I can provide some insight there….at least as far as their cameras are concerned.
It seems that in their infinite wisdom, the designers of the new Sony cameras decided they would include a different battery configuration. The older cameras use double A batteries which are easily obtained and relatively cheap. You can also use rechargeable double-A’s which significantly increase your battery life and because they are rechargeable also help the environment as well as your pocket book.
The new battery pack is also rechargeable, but isn’t readily available — in other words, I can’t walk into any grocery store or drugstore and buy it. It’s also $50! This price makes it unaffordable for many to keep more than one or two on hand. With the double-A’s, if you lost one (even one of the rechargeable kind), it wasn’t all that expensive to replace. Since you buy the battery pack from Sony (or they supply it to your camera store), I suppose they thought they would make money off of them as well as the camera itself. Well, you can’t make money off it if you don’t sell any.
Some people also balk at the memory sticks Sony uses in it’s cameras. Again, instead of using the cheaper, but just as good compact flash card they use memory sticks which, for 4GB costs $95. I purchased a 4GB compact flash card for my new Canon for $14.99 — that’s a pretty significant difference in price!
The new cameras don’t seem to offer much in the way of added features. I didn’t see any with more zoom than my now 3 year old DSC-H2 (which has 10x) and also don’t see more MP either. Some are thinner and lighter which I’m sure appeals to many, but that’s about the only significant feature I can discern from their current product selection. When your competitors, Canon and Olympus both offer point-and-shoot cameras with 15x and 20x (respectively) zoom and 10 and 12 MP, it’s hard to keep your market share when you don’t have something to compete with.
Everybody makes mistakes but this is a really bad time to make poor business decisions like these.
Sorry Sony!
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Well, Sony’s digital cameras are so-so. I’d rather get a Canon (or a Nikkon for an SLR camera). Not to mention that they are using their own storage card solution (Sony’s memory stick)!
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I think you are absolutely right. It is important to be able to buy batteries anywhere, anytime and that too cheap. It is precisely for this reason that when I decided to change my digital camera I didnt buy a Sony again.
I hope the Sony bosses are out there reading your post.
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With regards to cameras Sony has never really been innovative. They just follow the ideas implemented by the other big brands.
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If Sony were leaving megapixels low and improving image performance (like Panasonic has been doing with point-and-shoots and Nikon with SLRs), that would be one thing. But I haven’t bought Sony since their anti-customer rootkit scandal a few years ago. I doubt most people consider that — but Sony is no longer the automatic guarantee of innovation and quality than it used to be, which combined with the company’s arrogance contributes to their sales problem.
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Sorry Sony…camera production is not for you, it’s for camera maker! LOL.
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Sounds like they were short sighted. Figured they’d make money at the front end when everyone was forced to buy only their memory sticks, and their batteries. Those are both reasons, that if I were looking for a new camera I would shy aware from Sony. I like things that are easy, and affordable.
Sandy
TGIF
FWIW, when I bought my Sony DSC-H2, it was a significant improvement over the Kodak P&S I had just purchased a week before. Where the Kodak didn’t have image stabilization, Sony did plus the image quality was over the top. I was and still am very happy with that camera. However, I take a lot of photos of wildlife and without getting into the expense and complications of DSLR, I wanted and needed a camera with more zoom. I didn’t want to give up image stabilization as I’m not the steadiest of shooters anyway, so I did a lot of product research before purchasing the new camera; a Canon.
I had a “top 3″ list when I went shopping with the Canon first, the Olympus second and Sony a distant third. It was because of the battery pack and memory card that I had placed Sony so far behind the other two. As it was, I found the Canon first and bought it as it appeared I was not going to find the Olympus at the retailers around here, although I really wanted to compare the two before making a final decision.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to not be the first one outwith some innovation — often that first out innovator ends up with a lot of bad press due to not having done adequate testing. That can totally ruin a reputation. So, I have no problem with Sony being a “follow-the-leader” in terms of this. But, when I spend hundreds of dollars on a product, I do expect to get value for that money. Not having convenience in accessories and the ability to cut costs where it’s practical will turn the tide away from my loyalty.
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