As Apple and Samsung dominate, Japan’s tech giants are in a free fall

[jsr]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as-apple-and-samsung-dominate-japans-tech-giants-are-in-a-free-fall/2012/09/28/04c6eb36-0944-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html

As Apple and Samsung dominate, Japan’s tech giants are in a free fall
By Chico Harlan

TOKYO — While electronics giants Apple and Samsung fight each other for market dominance, with hotly competitive product releases and tit-for-tat patent lawsuits, Japan’s consumer electronics makers find themselves in an increasingly perilous fight for relevance and, in some cases, survival.

Companies such as Sony, Panasonic and Sharp once controlled the industry, outclassing and outselling their U.S. rivals. But now they represent the most alarming telltale of corporate Japan’s ­two-decade struggle to adapt, downsize and innovate.

While the Japanese economy staggers, the consumer electronics companies are in an accelerated free fall, unable to catch on in the digital world of tablets and smartphones. They’re cycling through executives, watching their stock prices dip toward 10-year lows and laying off employees; Sharp recently reported plans to slash nearly one-fifth of its workforce. The companies — bleeding money on their once-profitable televisions — have also set off on a nontraditional hunt for profits, developing everything from solar panels to medical devices.

The companies still have famous brand names, and tech analysts say they still produce some of the world’s highest-quality hardware devices. But they face a fundamental problem: It’s been years since they’ve turned out products that people feel they need to have. ...

[DemzRock]

1. I seem to remember seeking out Sony...

a lot back in the days of Walkmans and Diskmans.

Then came MP3, and correct me if I am wrong, didn't Sony go down a proprietary path, at fist? I mean it works for Apple, but it turned me off of Sony. Yeah, I just checked wikipedia...

"Their main downfall[citation needed] would be Sony's stubborn resistance to supporting the ubiquitous MP3 codec in their early players and many users found it frustrating to convert their MP3 music collection to ATRAC3 for use on the Network Walkman, while Apple's iPod supported MP3 out of the box and came with the iTunes software."

That in a nutshell is why Japan failed in keeping up.


Now I love Samsung Android products! My Galaxy Player 5, for example, lets you use a standard connector, plug it into a PC, and immediately open a Windows Explorer window to drag and drop practically anything.

[awoke_in_2003]

2. The default format...

for iTunes's proprietary, but it can handle mp3 and 4, too.

[DemzRock]

3. Right! itunes is a slight pain in that you have to import things...

and sync, but it handles mp3 from other sources too.

But I prefer mp3 players that just let you do things from windows without special programs.