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Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

Summary: Sony expecting its TV business to lose 220-230 billion yen (around $3 billion) this financial year.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

There are no shortage of analysts and pundits who think that Apple should enter the TV business, but here's 3 billion reasons why I think the Cupertino giant should leave the TV business to companies that want to lose money.

Sony has posted its Q3 2011 fiscal year financial results, and as expected, the news is dismal with the company posting an operating loss of $1.2 billion and net loss of $2 billion on a revenue of $23.37 billion.

One area of Sony's business that's dragging down its bottom line is its TV business, with the company expecting to lose 220-230 billion yen (around $3 billion) this financial year. People don't seem interested in TVs like they once used to be. Sony is even planning on merging its entertainment business (movies, artists, etc) with its electronic brands (Vaio, Bravia, etc) in an effort to boost sales, but this might not be enough. Speaking to Reuters, a former engineer and executive at Sony said that "there's still a chance in home electronics and I don't think Sony should quit TV's, but unfortunately I can imagine the day may come when they will pull the plug on the business."

So on the one hand, Sony, a well-known, established and well-respected name in the TV business is losing money hand over fist, while on the other hand we have analysts and pundits (and for that matter fanboys) desperate for Apple to enter into this highly competitive, cutthroat market with TVs that will undoubtedly retail at a higher price point than the competition.

Doesn't make sense to me. Does it to you?

Related:

Topics: Apple, Hardware, Mobility

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30 comments
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  • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

    It makes sence when you factor in that the SONY brand has a tendancy to mean "Overpriced"
    samalie
    Reply Vote

    • Just give the money to APPLE then !

      @samalie

      SONY should just give the 3 billion to Apple then.
      APPLE is going to get 3 times that anyway !!

      SONY jump the shark years ago !! when they dumb down their ES line to save money and charged the same price for cheaper $hit !!

      this is apple section
      Why are all these blog so anti Apple
      Why are you comparing a media and electronic to just an electronic company anyway
      I take it you were up all night working on this one .

      And Why are these blogs written by Clueless Blogging Stooges that actually sell their books through the ibooks store.

      Any windows or linux users that doesn't find that hypocritical is

      Clearly Bigtime Stupid !!!

      (Apple fanboys feel free to review the Clueless blogging Stooges as you see fit lol)

      @ Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

      (and for that matter fanboys) = insulting subscriber
      very smooth move x lax


      oncall is Ken Hess too !!
      Serious _Yahoo
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

        @Serious _Yahoo

        Were you trying to make a point of just being annoying?
        gribittmep
        Reply Vote

    • Actually, SONY is know of "good while it lasts"

      @samalie Sony product tend to work good .... for a while. Then they break for no reason, usually within weeks of the end of the warranty period. They are a "premium" brand with a cheap reliability.
      wackoae
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

      @samalie Weren't many of Apple's products also over-priced? Lisa, Macintosh, ... Even the iPhone4s is over-priced considering the lack of: microSD card slot for better user convenience, smallish 3.5" dispaly which hurt the health of my children's precious eyes as well as my aging eyes, no LTE support, no NFC support, ... iPhone4S is obviously over-priced when comparing to the HW features offered by the edition of the Galaxy SII at the time of the launch of 4Gs.
      WW_Thinker
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

    If Apple makes a TV their religious followers will pay any price to get one. Then, they'll buy a new one when the white model comes out. It will be magical!
    lippidp
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

      @lippidp
      SONY should just give the 3 billion to Apple then.
      APPLE is going to get 3 times that anyway !!

      SONY jump the shark years ago !! when they dumb down their ES line to save money and charged the same price for cheaper $hit !!

      this is apple section
      Why are all these blog so anti Apple
      Why are you comparing a media and electronic to just an electronic company anyway
      I take it you were up all night working on this one .

      And Why are these blogs written by Clueless Blogging Stooges that actually sell their books through the ibooks store.

      Any windows or linux users that doesn't find that hypocritical is

      Clearly Bigtime Stupid !!!

      (Apple fanboys feel free to review the Clueless blogging Stooges as you see fit lol)

      @ Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

      (and for that matter fanboys) = insulting subscriber
      very smooth move x lax


      oncall is Ken Hess too !!
      Serious _Yahoo
      Reply Vote

  • Honestly

    I really don't think the "fans" are so much interested in this Apple TV thing as the Apple haters are. It seems to make great fodder for them.
    oncall
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

      @oncall
      Apple hater are easily amused. Shake keys in front of their faces and tell them it has Android or Win Phone on it and they have orgasms.
      partman1969@...
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

    I don't know, Apple seems to know how to make huge profit margins on their productions when the rest of the industry is scraping by on fractions of a percent.
    gribittmep
    Reply Vote

    • On certain products only

      @gribittmep

      Sony already owns the manufacturing portion for televisions, Apple doesn't.
      William Farrel
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

      @gribittmep

      That is because Apple is very good at convincing folks a 400$ item is really worth 800$, if it's from Apple.
      ... caveat; Some Apple items are priced very competively so I don't mean to paint all Apple products with the same brush.
      whatagenda
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

        @whatagenda

        iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air are all beating the competition on price/value.

        And Macs were always priced competitively to PC equivalents. Just not the cheapo quality brands. If we look at all these ultrabooks (MacBook Air clones) coming out now, we will see that all the manufacturer's are now focusing more on design and quality, compared to cheapo notbooks of yesteryear. And of course good design and solid hardware will cost more naturally. This is what Apple's been offering consumers for years, and what detractors would label as overly expensive when compared to PCs. Solid robust unibody design, attention to detail, backlight keyboard, long battery-life..... But it's easier to brush this off as Macs being too expensive.

        When one buys into any of these Apple devices, they're buying into the industry leading customer support, industry leading customer satisfaction, industry leading battery life for instance, industry leading apps, music, media, content, games, iCloud, solid software like iLife, resale value is always higher with Apple, etc etc.
        dave95.
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

        @whatagenda
        I said it before: "Put a pc inside aluminum cladding, give it a trackpad which works as well as Apple's and it would cost a grand also. The price gouging doesn't really start until you look at a Mac Pro Tower where they can exceed 3 or 4000 dollars depending on their parts list.
        partman1969@...
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

    If the track record of Apple innovations holds true, post Steve Jobs, then the Apple TV will change the way we watch TV. The reason people are not interested in TV's is because of the hold the Networks, cable and satellite companies have on the shows we get. Paying $80 for 400 channels, 390 of which are useless. If Apple can convince the providers to do a A-La-Cart type of line up where we can choose the channels we get in a iTunes fashion, maybe people would be interested again.
    hal.potter@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

      @hal.potter@...

      I think you hit the nail on the head. I can't think of any technology that Apple could come out with that would make me pay a premium for a TV but if they could offer channels a la cart then it would make sense. I pay $85 a month and watch about 20 channels of the 300 or so I pay for. Apple just may have the clout to make this happen.
      gribittmep
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

        @gribittmep
        Apple could probably afford to buy the content providers
        preferred user
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

      @hal.potter@... With Steve Jobs no longer at the driving seat, Apple has a fat chance with the big bosses of the contents. Nobody in Apple has the kind of commanding charisma and vision to command the bosses to listen much. Apple can always use the mountain of cash to buy the minds though. In fact, the market successes from Apple simply demonstrate the extent how incapable the rest of the CE and computing industries are. Nevertheless, history teach us that no country and no company can stay forever at the top:) I wish the CEOs at Sony / Panasonic / Lenovo / Samsung / Microsoft / Philips / Google get wiser and don't simply use the excuse of "investors" to benefit only their pockets but not the companies and the consumers!
      WW_Thinker
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

    Oh, you mean rootkit PSN hack Sony?

    WHO CARES.
    SamWilkinson
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Sony gives us 3 billion reasons why Apple shouldn't make a TV

    SONY should just give the 3 billion to Apple then.<br>APPLE is going to get 3 times that anyway !!<br><br>SONY jump the shark years ago !! when they dumb down their ES line to save money and charged the same price for cheaper $hit !!<br><br>this is apple section <br>Why are all these blog so anti Apple<br>Why are you comparing a media and electronic company to just an electronic company anyway <br>I take it you were up all night working on this one Adrian !<br><br>And Why are these blogs written by Clueless Blogging Stooges that actually sell their books through the ibooks store. <br><br>Any windows or linux users that doesn't find that hypocritical is <br><br>Clearly Bigtime Stupid !!! <br><br>(Apple fanboys feel free to review the Clueless blogging Stooges books as you see fit lol)<br><br>@ Adrian Kingsley-Hughes<br><br>(and for that matter fanboys) = insulting subscribers <br>very smooth move x lax <br><br><br>oncall is Ken Hess too !!
    Serious _Yahoo
    Reply Vote
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