Sony's Annus Horribilis

You've got to feel bad for Sony. Once upon a time the company was mighty, its logo a guarantee of consumer-electronics nirvana. Their decline has been slow -- I was aghast when my father, an affirmed Sony man, recommended a Samsung TV ten years ago -- but this year in particular has seen the company getting knocks from all corners. The PS3 is only coming out in a few weeks, a year after Microsoft's Xbox 360 got the drop on them; the PSP is only just starting to live up to its potential; the stellar Reader was delayed, and there have since been problems fulfilling orders from the Sony Style site; there's that little matter regarding the recall of nearly 10 million lithium-ion batteries; and people are still glowering at them over the whole rootkit fiasco.

Now, another glitch: their LocationFree TV Box, which was supposed to ship next week in Japan, has had its release bumped to mid-November; it's likely delayed in the US as well. This latest snafu prompted Akira Amari, Japan's trade minister (and a former Sony employee), to tut-tut: "What has become of the Sony known for its technology?" What, indeed. It's true that the company's many tentacles still produce excellent work here and there -- my eyes and brain are still recovering from the astonishing native-resolution demo of the 4K digital cinema projector at SIGGRAPH, to pick one example -- but when the big boys start publically shaking their heads in disbelief, you know it's time for a change.