Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Blu-ray developer Sony

Reach and Distribution

While on paper Blu-ray developer Sony and HD DVD developer Toshiba may appear the same, there are key differences in this pugilistic battle. Sony smartly leveraged its position in a number of key products and content-distribution outlets. It seeded the market with Blu-ray-ready PS3 machines. The machines sold poorly in their first year, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that more people bought PS3s than HD-DVD-ready players.

Sony also controls a major television and movie studio, so it had any easier time getting Blu-ray content out into the marketplace. Toshiba and its partners kept pace for most of 2007, but once Warner Bros. walked away, Toshiba could do little to stop others from doing the same.

Flash and Burn
When Muhammad Ali dismantled an opponent, he didn’t just methodically pound him into the canvas. Instead, he danced, smiled and just plain over acted. Sometimes winning in technology requires a little bit of the flash and dazzle. I think Sony got that. For example, Blu-ray drives arrived in PCs before HD players.

TV and Smart Marketing
Muhammad Ali was good TV. In fact, if you like boxing, there was nothing better (whether he was talking or fighting). Toshiba and Sony both sell TVs, but ask anyone on the street who sells the best TVs and HDTVs and they’ll invariably answer Sony.

Part of Ali’s allure and success involved everything he did outside of the ring. Ali would wage a verbal marketing campaign that made fight enthusiasts and his opponents wonder if the fight had been won by Ali before anyone ever stepped into the ring. For a long time, Sony’s marketing was a bit more rope-a-dope than aggressive sell. Then late last year, Sony rolled out a series of aggressive television ads that elegantly tied together Sony Blu-ray content with the players and, more importantly, Sony HDTVs. Finally, there was a full marketing package, a message that perhaps turned on not only consumers but fence-sitting partners who were tying to satisfy both the HD DVD and Blu-ray camps. Toshiba started running similar ads, but because they came after Sony’s, they had the feel of mimicry.

Never Give Up
Muhammad Ali is the only three-time world heavyweight champion (or at least the only one I recognize). The man never gave up. When he seemed down and out, he would train harder and come back with a new strategic battle plan that would usually flummox his overconfident opponents. I give Sony credit. I counted the company out early on, and I think others did as well. Last summer there were reports that HD DVD had taken the lead in the format war, but those claims proved chimerical. Toshiba, on the other hand, made a critical error in January when it responded to Warner Bros. dropping HD DVD by canceling a major Consumer Electronics Show press conference. Muhammad Ali never would have done that.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

IIPM great B-School on earth

Anonymous said...

nice article about blu ray technology

Anonymous said...

Sony sound quality is best