Sony At the Crossroads: Innovation or Protectionism?
The world is full of dichotomies. And sometimes, people are required to reconcile differences that may not be reconcilable. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is tasked with regulating civil aviation to promote safety while at the same time promoting civil aviation (see the FAA summary of activities here).
Another recent example is the fight between using fear as a motivator in the US elections versus freedom. In this context, the choice is between the fear of loosing a single cent through someone illegally copying something versus the millions that could come in through the freedom to innovate.
So it is interesting to see technology giant Sony hire, as their CEO, Howard Stringer, the head of their entertainment division in the US ( see the story here).
Sony, for some time, has been walking a fine line between trying to protect its entertainment content with DRM while at the same time promoting hardware that works best without such DRM.
The dichotomy, to a great extent, has resulted in customers avoiding Sony DRM locked hardware. For example, many of their early Apple iPod clones required you to convert to Sony's proprietary ATRAC format while refusing to support the more open MP3 format. But Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony's video game unit and father of the PlayStation hit the nail on the head when he said Sony lost its lead in electronics when it (Sony) became timid when concerns over content rights trumped technological innovation ( see the article here).
Interestingly, if rumors are correct, the race for CEO came down to Kutaragi and Stringer. Time will tell whether choosing gaijin Stringer was wise but I don't think an emphasis on DRM, over innovation, will win Sony any new customers.
Aloha!