Sony has long held the Apple viewpoint about netbooks- they are not products that interest them due to the low margin. Sony keeps their eye on producing more premium products, even their recent VAIO W “netbook” is at least $100 more than competitor’s netbooks. The realities of the consumer netbook market must be settling into the executives at Sony — an interview of a Sony executive by LAPTOP Magazine indicates the electronics giant is changing their point of view.
The main takeaways from the interview with Sony’s Mike Abary:
- VAIOs with touch screens will be released this fall with Windows 7.
- Sony must be more competitive with their products as consumers are very price conscious.
- Sony has reorganized and the Sony Reader group is now in the same internal group as the VAIO, Playstation and Walkman product lines. Sony will focus on bringing a Reader experience to the VAIO line.
- The Playstation Network will be used to bring TV and movie content to the VAIO line.
This is just a summary of the interview that covered a lot of ground. Check out the entire interview to get the full picture from Sony. It definitely sounds like they are waking up to market realities.
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