Sony CEO Accuses Steve Jobs Of Being Greedy
from the pots-and-kettles dept
Speaking on a recent panel, Sony CEO Howard Stringer lashed out at Steve Jobs, calling him greedy and accusing him of wanting a world where only he gets to make money. Considering the relative performance of Sony and Apple of late, Stringer’s frustration is understandable, though his specific charges are pretty rich. Sony, of course, is legendary in its insistence on using closed, proprietary technologies, whose only purpose is to keep customers locked in. Talk about wanting to be the only company making money. Of course, this strategy has badly backfired, as it usually just keeps customers away. Ultimately, every company wants to make as much money as it can, something that Apple’s been quite good at. But Stringer’s comments suggest he feels entitled to some cut of the action, even if Sony hasn’t done anything to deserve it. Thinking you deserve something for doing nothing — now that’s what’s really greedy.
Comments on “Sony CEO Accuses Steve Jobs Of Being Greedy”
pot
kettle, that’s all I’ve got to say….
CEO and greedy go hand in hand. kind of like peanut butter and chocolate 🙂
Sony Not Greedy...
This is fairly funny comment from the company that brings us Beta format VHS tapes and BlueRay DVD. Talk about wanting to hog the market share!
Re: Sony Not Greedy...
“This is fairly funny comment from the company that brings us Beta format VHS tapes…”
Beta format VHS tapes? I assume you meant to type “VCR” (Video Cassette Recorder).
Sony as a company may suck, but Beta did have superior picture quality. VHS (Video Home System) beat ’em on greater record time.
Re: Re: Sony Not Greedy...
Yet Sony owned most of the technology behind VHS as well. Talk about wanting to hog the market.
Sony support thread
This is a small sample of how unbelievably useless Sony support is. Ive been trying to get a Security Cam to display on my PPC as they say it should and has been ongoing for almost 2 years.
Read from bottom to top.
——————————–
Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support.
We apologize that you are not completely satisfied with your Sony product. We appreciate the time you have taken to share your comments with us. It is important that we receive this feedback from our customers so that we may better serve you in the future.
Please contact our Corporate Communications Department at the following website. They will either contact you back, or redirect your inquiry to the appropriate department. Sony’s internal company email addresses and phone numbers are not available to the public.
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/corporate_information/contact_us
Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.
Your Sony Email Response Team
CP98
Samuel
This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. They may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachments associated therewith from your computer. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.
Original Message Follows:
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How useless can you all possibly be when you cannot even forward an email as requested. Once again beyond useless.
—–Original Message—–
From: Custserv [mailto:custserv@info.sel.sony.com]
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 9:18 AM
To:
Subject: Re: Camcorder: Digital (KMM16959047I21924L0KM)
Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support.
I’m sorry for any inconvenience you’ve experienced with the product.
As much as I would like to assist you, our email response team strictly provides product information, troubleshooting, and technical assistance.
Sony believes that communication regarding such concerns is best conducted through personal interaction with our customer service team at: (800) 222-7669.
Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.
Your Sony Email Response Team
CP98
Samuel
This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. They may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachments associated therewith from your computer. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.
Original Message Follows:
Message : To the President/CEO Sony Corp.
Im writing to tell you why I will NEVER purchase a Sony product EVER again and do everything within my power to convince ANYONE who will listen to do
th esame.
Im not alone, as a Corporation you have alienated nearly every one of your customers with lies and insane heavy handed tactics that prove to the customer he/she is meaningless to you.
It seems just yesterday that I craved that Sony cassette walkman that had a certain quality that made it a terrific product for a new market. Over the years Ive personally watched the quality of your products deteriorate into just another electronics company.
Nearly 2 years ago I purchased a Sony SNC-RZ30 security camera. It was WAY more expensive than I wanted to pay but YOUR product claimed to be able to be controlled by a Pocket PC. During the 2 years Ive tried with 5 different PPCs and contacted useless Sony support where I was treated like a moron and subsequently told numerous times through numerous support requests that I have to go purchase some other software. I have spent over $100 non-refundable software that DIDNT work with this camera. At the very least if youre support staff are going to make me go buy more software to do what was claimed on the Camera box it had better work correctly. Then after I spend the money I get the "Oh well" form your support staff.
This is just my little problem that Ill assume will NEVER work the way I intended or the way you claimed. I could take you to small claims court but ya know, you arent worth the effort.
Beyond my issue you have made clowns of yourselves time and time again with the "rootkit" OR the push for your proprietary "Memory Stick" that has failed years ago, yet you are too stupid to see people arent as dumb as YOU think. For the price of a 256mb memory stick I can get a 2GB Mini SD card???? Does that make ANY sense?
Needless to say Sony Corp is a dinosaur from a bygone corrupt/greedy era and I for one cannot wait till Sony drops off the face of the Earth.
Buh-Bye
Howard, before WWII your Japanese masters had the honorable tradition of disemboweling oneself when he failed in his duty. Don’t blame Jobs for your failure as it dishonors your masters.
This ‘greed’ thing is enshrined in the terms of CEO contracts as ‘fiduciary responsibility’, and is MANDATED thereby.
This, I think, is a bad idea, as it tends to draw the most unscrupulous alpha sharks whose main fiduciary responsibility is to themselves. I think we’ve seen more than a few examples of that in the last 20 years or so.
But hey, making something a playground for alpha types to play their ego games works great in the judicial system!!
Oh snap!
Howard Stringer, you got served!
Pot, meet kettle.
Yep. And as much as most of you may hate to admit it, Blu-ray is severly dominating this format war. If anyone is to be called a winner (and i do mean if) in this hd format war, it is hands down Blu-ray. Sorry.
Also, as much as you may hate to admit it, Sony Pictures as a movie company has been setting records throughout the millenium and has easily been the most successful movie producer/publisher in the last 7 years.
Sony BMG maybe not. I don’t know how successful they are financially, but I’m definitely not buying sony audio cds, sorry Sony.
As for gaming, well so far they’ve had the most successful gaming consoles ever created, and when it comes to hardware quality alone, well my original 1990s PSX (that’s how the PSOne used to look before it changed the X to a One) still works, and my ps2 has yet to fail, and I’ve not heard of a single case of a PS3 simply overheating or just plain dying for no reason unlike the 360 and xbox. HOWEVER, I’m far from claiming that the PS3 is currently the most successful console. Far from it. The future may change that, but right now I know I still don’t have a single reason to go out and buy a PS3, and I’ve been a pretty good fan of the PS-line in the past. No games, and hell if I care about HD visuals.
Hm.. the last sony electronics product I had (its not exactly cheap, really) was a minidisc player, well… two. One which was stolen, and other which was broken when someone (a relatively big someone) sat on it or something. I honestly cannot comment on their quality in that department. I know that their items typically “look good/stylish/stand out” but I’ve heard plenty of stories of vaios (for example) being less than reliable, to say the least.
My point is that Sony is pretty fucking big, and headed by different subdivisions. Grouping them all together to insult because of the mistakes of one division is a mistake in itself. Be a but less biased. And while I agree that Howard Stringer, like any CEO honestly, is greedy – Steve Jobs is oceans away from anything but.
Re: Re:
Sony’s gaming division along lost over a billion dollars in 06. Fun fun.
Re: Re:
Huh… seems that being, as the article stated, the “Sony CEO,” would suggest that Mr. Stringer’s comments are intended to represent the entire company, and not just a single division like you say.
Also, simply because it was folly on Mr. Stringer’s part to make such a comment, it does not lessen the brutality Sony has inflicted upon itself over the last few years.
To say that the PS3 is not by -any- means the most popular console out today, and precede that with comments about how the PS3 is so much better than the XBox360, makes little sense… If the PS3 were the superior console, it would have overtaken 360 sales pretty quickly. That’s kind of the idea of the system in this country, whoever makes the better product makes the most sales, and thus gets hailed as the better company. Sony missed the boat this time, unfortunately.
Oh, and one more thing, it’s not much to say that Sony is “winning the HD format war,” when that war’s goal, at the moment, is to win over strikingly small number of people. The HD formats are -both- practically DOA, as there is little to no need for them, especially not at the prices that are being charged for the technology. So while it may very well be winning this “war,” Sony is still struggling with the same bad ideas/decisions that they’ve struggled with for several years. It’s just finally coming back to bite them.
Re: Re: Re:
He wasn’t saying how the PS3 was so much better, but just that it’s production line wasn’t nearly as faulty. He’s saying it’s systems are more reliable than 360.
Plus, Sony very well could have the best quality system with the PS3. It matters not when there are no games.
Better product doesn’t make the most sales. There are plenty of luxury cars that cost hundreds of thousand’s of dollars but I bet they have fewer sales than a honda civic.
The Next-gen DVDs will eventually gain ground in my opinion. Right now they’re high-end luxury items. If you don’t have a high-end entertainment system, you can’t even notice the difference. If you do, there is a huge difference, assuming you’re a video/audio-phile.
Re: Re:
Dominating? A format where less than 1000 sales can break into the top 10 is dominating??? Sorry, they’re both flops.
pot…kettle…black…. Didn’t Sony invent vendor lock-in, before Microsoft even existed?
ROFL, that’s too much…
Sony – of ALL companies.
Cry Baby
This is a funny story, it should be made into a comic strip for the newspaper. Mrs. Howard Stringer is just jealous because Stevo has a much larger check book then he does or she does I should say. I thinke Steve lost plenty of money when his good ole buddy pal Bill Gates robbed him. Not only does Apple put out QUALITY products but it also SUPPORTS its products. Sony on the other hand tries to get there hands in every market, corner that market, there equipment isn’t top of the line but we pay like it is, then when we try to get support we get the run around. Mrs. Stringer I serioiusly hope you read this, then just resign because its obvious how uselss an worthless you are an sony is.
A ceo crying the blues about money when 80 percent of this country struggles, 10 percent is living, an the other 10 are the big wigs. Get a life loser!
Sony
It was Sony, not Apple who invented the strategy of making products that would be obsolete within the year as technologically better, cheaper models came out. Given production lead times for Sony’s products, this was not an artifact of technological innovation, but a deliberate marketing strategy, as much driven by “greed” as the pot is currently calling the kettle.
On the other hand, they do (did) make pretty reliable products. My console TV, a Sony, is about 25 years old and still works fine. It has never needed service.
And every so often a Sony innovation captures the market. We remain grateful to Akio Morita for demanding the Compact Disk hold all of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Lesser men had come out with the 45 rpm record.
Sony is simply a company that allowed itself to become a mature company driven by design and cosmetic variations rather than constantly new themes. It’s called “hardening of the arteries”.
Instead of whining about Steve Jobs, Howard Stringer should dedicate himself to reinventing Sony. Apple has shown us all that high prices are no barrier to massive sales if the consumer is offered a value proposition commensurate with the price. Few would have believed the iPhone would have sold in the millions, and so quickly, at its heretofore unprecedentedly high market price point. Thus Sony needs to refocus not on price points or proprietary technology, but on the value proposition offered. Close examination of its history will show that that was a fundamental driver of its past successes.
It is a corollary of the above that Sony needs to concentrate on product areas where the possibility of high value propositions exists. DTV, for example, isn’t it–it’s just another TV of higher picture quality, as currently implemented, although the format offers the possibility of subchannel innovation if people focus on that. This is a possible area for Sony to develop a market before Jobs goes into the TV business with a range of additional services and capabilities and eats that lunch as well.
Putting it another way, Jobs is a user interface oriented product design and marketing genius, and so far Stringer hasn’t shown himself to be so.
Jobs
I’m afraid I and most others on this thread have gone off half-cocked because Techdirt omitted material facts in its lead-off piece. Stringer was talking specifically about itunes and media pricing.
Speculating, since Stringer’s own remarks didn’t make it clear (at least Techdirt did include a pointer to the original article on the remarks) Stringer could have been referring to Jobs campaign to drop digital rights protection from iTunes files. Stringer must imagine that the technology prevents the kind of piracy that might cause lost sales. That case is by no means proven, even though it is an article of faith with recording industry executives.
On the other hand, if Stringer was talking about raising the price for downloads, if he doesn’t like the contractual deal with Apple, when it expires he can always withhold his media and see what that does to his bottom line. He’s not likely to do that since he would lose money–which is why he is whining in public about it. If your gun has no bullets, try to talk a brave line and see if that works.
A recent poll asked people what their favorite brands were, regardless of the product.
The top three:
#1 – Coca Cola
#2 – Sony
#3 – Toyota
Apple vs. Sony
Just who is caling the kettle black or is that White?
Apple over the years has certainly had a corner on “proprietary” now hasn’t it?
Too bad they both haven’t learned a lesson! Customers learn quickly to trust the company that is not necessarily just “Greed” oriented now don’t they!!!!
Power to the internet EH?
Where are all of the Robin Hoods??
I am sure that the employees of Sony are proud! Nothing quite like your CEO sticking his neck out on the block. All of them are making money hand over fist so they all need to STFU.
I bet if Nintendo wasn’t spanking their PS3 Sony wouldn’t be bitchin.
The Color of Green
Apple is green with cash; Sony is green with envy…
SONY CEO Lashed at Steve Jobs for Being "Stingy"
What a joke. Howard ought to look at his mirror … but it’s fogged over with the fumes of customers screwed by SONY’s proprietary material that he must feel doesn’t fall in the category of “STINGY.” To be more general, look with a careful eye when any japanese company makes accusations toward a largely US company about being stingy or even close. They are so strongly supported by their government that any business there has an automatic head start, AND A BIG ONE, on profitability and as a business model, the entire political culture there is stingy. Just look at the facts, not my opinion. How much taxes do businesses pay in Japan? How much duty is paid on product from the US going to Japan? How much duty is paid on product from Japan to the US? How much business tax do US businesses pay? How much of the product cost of Japanese product cost is for health care? US? Environment protection costs? Japanese products? US Products? I hear that there was one Japanese fellow that tried to start a Green Peace activity. He’s missing.
Folks, our goverment has gone awry. They are watching their own “backsides” while the major issues facing this country are running out of the barn. It won’t be long that all of our industry will be gone. We present the most caustic business atmosphere in the world. To be a US business is to compete with you favored hand behind you, your “friend” restraining you deaf to your pleas for some balance, and a general attitude of “tough sh__,” you brought this on yourself. Remember when we made great TVs?
Stringer, you couldn’t tied Jobs shoes. By working for SONY, you have the job 3/4 done for you by the Japanese government rather that having your job doubled by the crippling beauracratic business political atmosphere, along with a massively tilted palying field whenit comes to job costs, health care, environmental issues, etc., etc., …
The T-shirt you’re wearing was made by a 11 year old Malaysian paid 10 cents a day in a ratty old tent in 120 heat.
Wake up
Well... sure!
Greed is fine if you are speaking of market share. It is not like he isn’t paying staff. What do his stock holders thing of this post?
“Hey! you guys made an mp3 player that actually plays mp3s and you made money, I’m jealous!”
Hey lighten up, you know what Monty Python says?
PS. Apple sucks!
People have bought the players and the movies are coming out. It’s a minor [in]convenience for movie companies to make their movies on the second format as well as dvd, and its nothing but profit for them. While DVD is far from dead (lets hope it stays this way for a while), HD format market share has nowhere to go but up. So while neither you nor I own a bluray player (at least I dont), it’s really not a flop if it’s selling.
Like it or not, Blu-ray is here to stay, and there are a lot more companies backing it than just Sony.
Having yet to even own an HD tv (and going into college I know it’ll be a very long time before I do) I have no interest in the format, but wow, take the apple-goggles off and try and be a bit less biased.
I dont know the exact financial status of both companies, but I think it’s safe to assume that Apple is more successful than Sony at the moment. But both companies are only interested in money, and neither of them is more innocent than the other.
Besides, I think I made it pretty obvious that I was only comparing it to HD-DVD. Yet people always find a way to take stabs at anyone (suprising that there even is anyone in this corner of the internets) who says anything in Sony’s defense.
I bet half the people here still think that you can only play blu-ray games on your ps3 because of drm, and I bet not a single person here realizes that the “uber restrictive drm” on the PS3 allows you to let up to three other consoles download any game you buy online on your account, which comes at no premium (in fact the downloadable content is typically cheaper than nintendo’s and microsoft’s… *waits for someone who knows nothing of console game sales to say some biased comment about how the games have to be cheaper because they suck*) and that’s about 3 more downloads than the competition offers. You can see the influences of their evil restrictive empire as they allow 3rd party OSs and hardware to work on their console, and their greed is so obvious in their free web browsing and online gaming service.
I feel so tortured having a console where I don’t have to pay extra to use as a media center and remote media server, I’m about to chuck the thing because I absolutely abhor simultaneous bluetooth and wifi interactivity with other devices…
Please, most people here who try to talk bad about the company in line with the current geek fad have never owned a sony product, let alone one that failed on them or infected their pc with rootkits.
Re: Re:
huh?
People would be saying the same if hd-dvd was winning in the same way.
Also if you buy a game system based on the downloads and not the actual games for it, good for you but it’s not the case for the majority of people.
Seriously, round here there’s a wii commercial per ad break (and man that’s more than enough to make me want to kill the one responsible for that), and there’s not 1 that is centered around the downloadable contents. I bet MS do the same for their xbox360. And for all I know Sony does not advertise how psn work >.>.
Face it even if blu-ray is here to stay, there’s still a long way to go before reaching non-techies.
Considering the extremly low sales of the ps3 (ps3 do worldwide about what the ps2 did when released in japan) I don’t see how this player is here to stay.
Oh and if you’re happy with it, then good for you.
I have no interest in it but that won’t stop me from wishing you good times with it.
the only bad thing right now about the PS3 is the amount of games and the price tag.
seeing as how people will pay $600 for a phone that looks pretty, i’m sure there are plenty of people who will buy the PS3 once more games are released.
the ps3 should have been released a lot later, but they pushed it ahead due to the hd format wars which very well could win the war for them. and remember, there’s more to the war than just movies. whoever wins that will most likely win the war completely and become the next storage media disc as well.
Re: Re:
“the only bad thing right now about the PS3 is the amount of games and the price tag.
seeing as how people will pay $600 for a phone that looks pretty, i’m sure there are plenty of people who will buy the PS3 once more games are released.
the ps3 should have been released a lot later, but they pushed it ahead due to the hd format wars which very well could win the war for them. and remember, there’s more to the war than just movies. whoever wins that will most likely win the war completely and become the next storage media disc as well.”
Completely 100% agree with you. Like I’ve said, I have yet to have a reason to own a PS3 – I was merely trying to show the other side to the whole anti-everythingthatissony trend and how many things are false and/or blown out of proportion.
The system needs some serious games, seriously soon. For the price, the features are a bargain, but I’m still buying a gaming console primarily, with everything else being “extra”, not the other way around.
Don't by Sony
That’s why I don’t buy Sony…MP3…Digital Camera…its all closed by their stupid memory stick. The only Sony I bought was a Wega TV 8 years ago because that’s kinda hard to lock in. I don’t think I would consider their products for future purchases. Over priced and locks you in. Next…Blue Ray DVD…
Sony calling Jobs Greedy ha ha haha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
This from the company that that distibutes BMG Mus
Whether a former customer wanted a selection or not? I managed to get out of their scam by saving every e-mail that I’d received from BMG,and I never put any of their cd’s in my PC, but that really takes cojones.
“There’s a sucker born every minute”
– PT Barnum
job
i haveforyears experence
all kind computer work