A little over a year ago I blogged about Sony having been toppled from the innovation roost by Apple, Samsung and others. “Sony should be quicker in getting truly innovative products to market. One word: iPod. Think back to the disruptive product that was the Sony Walkman in 1979. Sony’s not leading the charge like it has in the past. Samsung grabbed (and still holds) significant market share that could have been Sony’s in the DLP/LCD TV market, especially given Sony’s Trinitron brand penetration in conventional CRT’s” (“Sony Still the One and Only?”, 02 September 06).
As we might have guessed, they weren’t sleeping but feverishly plotting over in R&D, at least with regards to the flat-panel TV market. According to Reuters and a handful of sources today, Sony will be launching an ultra-thin flat TV in December. The new set features an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology that the Tokyo-based manufacturer is betting on to grab market share from the dominant LCD (smaller sized displays) and plasma (larger, e.g., 50 inches and up) technologies.
“Sony, the world’s No.2 liquid crystal display TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co, expects the 11-inch OLED TV with a thickness of 3 mm to sell for 200,000 yen ($1,740), almost as high as retail prices of some of its own 40-inch LCD models” (Reuters). Differentiating benefits are said to be energy efficiency, weight and an ever-smaller footprint (ultra-thin … 3mm).
I won’t say that Sony heard a Who, but they certainly do seem to be listening to consumers (and the rings of cash registers, not that any of them still “ring” anymore). But innovation is not just about leaps and incremental gains on quality, economics and feature sets, but speed to market. “Some people have said attractive products are slow to come at Sony despite its technological strength,” Sony President Ryoji Chubachi told a news conference at its Tokyo headquarters. “I want this world’s first OLED TV to be the symbol of the revival of Sony’s technological prowess. I want this to be the flag under which we charge forwards to turn the fortunes around,” he said.
Bravo. Now let’s see what they do about the iPod (not that I would actually switch!).
Posted by: Colin Mangham