Music Unlimited powered by QRIOCITY

Completely lame, corny and unnecessarily long name however, from what I've witnessed this new service that Sony has delivered to Qriocity enabled products has got the goods!
Below is Sony's press release:

Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced the launch of “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity,” a new, cloud-based, digital music service which gives music lovers access at any time to millions of songs from major labels including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music as well as leading independent labels and major publishers worldwide. The “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” catalogue will initially offer about six million songs and will continue to expand over time.

Through “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity,” users can play music any time on a wide variety of Internet-connected Sony devices including Sony’s 2010 models of network-enabled BRAVIA TV, Blu-ray Disc player, Blu-ray Disc Home Theater system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system as well as VAIO and other personal computers. It will also become available on a wide range of Sony’s portable devices, as well as on Android-based mobile devices and other portable devices.

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” is initially available in the U.K. and Ireland with service availability in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and U.S. to be announced in due course during 2011.

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity” is the next extension of services ‘powered by Qriocity. Sony debuted “Video On Demand powered by Qriocity,” a premium video streaming service, in the U.S. in April 2010 and expanded the service to France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. in November 2010. Through “Video on Demand powered by Qriocity” customers can instantly rent from a growing library of thousands of Hollywood blockbuster movies across Sony’s 2010 models of network-enabled BRAVIA TV, Blu-ray Disc player and Blu-ray Disc Home Theater system.

“As we continue to expand Qriocity globally, these services ‘powered by Qriocity’ offer a single ID log-in and wallet solution, and empower users to easily consume content including music and video across a growing number of integrated devices,” said Kazuo Hirai, President of Networked Products & Services Group, Sony Corporation. “Seamless accessibility to content through these fresh user experiences will enrich Sony,s network service offerings and continually add value to the unique aspects of Sony’s network-enabled products.”

So, by the look of the things an Australian release is looking most definitely possible. I'm sure that in CES 2011 Sony will announce many more Qriocity compatible products, including Sony Ericsson smartphones, Vaio PC's and Walkman Players. If this service doesn't come to Walkman players next year then I think it's safe to say that Sony has completely lost it. Check out below for a demonstration of the Music Unlimited interface on a PS3:

EA CEO RICCITIELLO: XBOX 360 doesn’t stand a chance of beating the PS3 Brand

Since the launch of the PS3, Sony and Microsoft have been in fierce battle to win the console war and become the most prominent gaming brand in the world.
Previously Sony was the undisputed leader with the Playstation 2, the most successful and best – selling gaming console of all time. However, this time around the PS3 is facing extremely steep competition from Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
 
Despite this, the CEO of Electronic Arts (EA), John Riccitiello, is sticking with Sony and says that the Xbox doesn’t stand much of a chance of beating the PS3 brand. Riccitiello’s statements are supported by Sony’s strong sales of the PS3 outside the US, the PS3 is beating the Xbox 360 in sales in most other areas outside the US especially in Japan, where Sony has a distinct home advantage and the Xbox’s presence in the Asian market is almost irrelevant. Sony’s international dominance is evident with the number of fans on the official Playstation Facebook page, the Playstation has an ever growing 7,500,000 fans whereas the Xbox only has 5,700,000 fans.
Riccitiello said: “Microsoft’s brand, the Xbox, does not really compare to the PlayStation brand outside the US. I believe the international market is very important, so no matter how much Microsoft is able to increase sales in the US, it is still on an impossible mission because Sony’s brand is so strong”.
Had it not been for the PS3’s initial pricing blunders, the PS3, probably would be ahead of the Xbox in the North American market, however the new motion gaming battle could prove beneficial to Microsoft given the Kinect becomes a raging success. Though, the PS3 brand Riccitiello states is too strong to ‘bury’.

Merry Christmas from The Sony Pony!

Merry Christmas to everyone who sees this post (and people who don't see it but they wouldn't get it....).
I wish you all a joyous festive season filled with presents and food that makes you fat. :) 

It's not funny anymore, QRIOCITY is taking too long Sony.

UPDATE: Music Unlimited by Qriocity has just launched in Europe. Though release in America, Canada and other places is set for 2011. I'm still extremely skeptical about an Australian release and we still have no idea when in 2011 this service will launch in the States.

The amount of time that Sony has taken to get QRIOCITY off the ground is practically unthinkable.

The Qriocity online store launched some time around February this year in America and has only just seen its launch in Europe. If it takes them almost a whole year to bring an online service to a different continent, it kinda makes you wonder how long it will take to go worldwide, considering that is what they are planning, however given previous efforts on certain product releases that is questionable. And also my hope for an Australian release is also being erased quite quickly especially now that when going to Qriocity.com, i am greeted with a 'Qriocity is not available in your country' notice rather than 'coming soon' as shown previously.

I briefly remember when Sony had first attempted an online store, to go against iTunes, that store was called Connect and was a music store fill with a limited variety of tracks all in a proprietary ATRAC format, that incidentally could only played on Sony Walkmans.

Capping Off 2010, Not a Bad Year for Sony

Recently, Sony hasn't been quite as good as they used to be (by recently I mean on a grand scale with regards to Sony's lengthy history). Back in the 70s and 80s during Sony's prime years, Sony was the most unmatched brand in consumer electronics, creating the most innovative products of the highest quality including the beloved Walkman Cassette Player, the legendary Trinitron colour television, and later on the Playstation.

Recently though, the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft have taken over the innovative throne that Sony had once conquered. However by all means, 2010 has seen a return to form (and profitability) from the Sony Corp. and has provided us a brief look of things to come.

Let's take a look at Sony's product milestones of 2010:

Kinect crushing Move, do sales really matter?

Both Sony and Microsoft (and Nintendo, though Wii's are almost irrelevant now) are both deep into their motion control console BATTLE! And overall Sony has sold more than Kinect but given that Sony had an enormous head start (release date for Playstation Move was September 15), I think it is fair to say that overall, Kinect sales are totally demolishing that of Move's.
Kinect sales since launch: 2.5 million in just under a month.
Move shipments since launch: 4.1 million though we are still unsure as to how many of those 4.1 million have actually sold.

It was anticipated that Kinect would most definitely outsell Move, as new concepts generally do attract a lot of interest, however in the end I'm questioning whether sales actually matter in the long run. Of course the whole point of a business is to sell the most products and to make the most money but in the long run maybe Kinect will come back to hurt Microsoft.

Here's why:
The one area where the Xbox is better than other consoles is the number and quality of the shooters available on the platform. Obviously Kinect, will only bring Kinectimals (shown above) and childish games and no shooters (at least no quality shooters) of any description.

Oh, no! is this really the PSP Phone??

I'm sure you've seen the video of the supposed PSP Phone already, well if not, here it is, nice and clear. Yeah, none of that blurry crap that teaser videos and what not usually are.

The Phone appears obviously to be running Android, the Gingerbread version to be exact. It looks exactly like the pictures that Engadget had leaked about a month or two ago, which is further proof that this thing is indeed real. It doesn't appear to be using Sony Ericsson's proprietary Android skin that is employed on the Xperia line however given this thing is real and that it will be released it will probably come with Sony Ericsson's Android skin with Mediascape and Timescape. There is a Playstation Icon (not the PS logo but a picture of a controller) that isn't touched in the first video but here is a video of the Playstation Icon being pressed revealing the Playstation App with no games installed.

TO ESSI

JUST SO THAT YOU BELIEVE THIS BLOG IS INDEED MINE XD

Rundown of PSP Phone ESSENTIALS

PSP PHONE! Definitely PSP Phone.
Lets face it, we're all wanting a PSP phone and the PSP phone is also one of the most highly anticipated of this year, and we don't even know whether it's going to happen or not.
But all signs point to yes, there will be a PSP phone, the main reason is why not have one? Everyone wants it, it could compete with the iPhone, increase market potential of the Playstation Platform and earlier in the year Sony applied a patent for a touchscreen controller like device most likely to be used on the PSP2 or Playstation Phone.

This is a quick run down of what the PSP Phone NEEDS to have:

• Android
• Dedicated gaming controller (touchpad or physical buttons but hopefully touchpad)
• More stupid games (like iPhone games (Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja etc...) which should be taken care of by the use of the Android OS)
• Playstation Network and QRIOCITY
• PS3 connectivity
• Very good battery life as games are extremely battery intensive

Flex Oled, please. hurry. up

Often, we think of which products in history have changed the world the most. And what possibilities new products and technologies open up. Even though, i mentioned in my previous post, that any product can sell as long as the right marketing technique is utilised, it is these new things that have the greatest potential to be runaway successes, these products that are unlike any other and bring something absolutely new to the table.
What products or technologies do we think fit into this category? Microsoft Kinect is the one that is currently springing to my mind. Despite Sony's move being more accurate and more capable for a higher variety of games, Kinect as we know it will probably outsell Move by the million simply because people have never seen anything like it.
This is why Sony needs to roll out FLEX OLED soon.
Currently, Sony's business strategy is good, however Apple has shown us that critically successful and marvellously engineered products aren't always the way to go. Take for example the current touch screen ipod nano, lets face it its so useless, yet its successful because its like no other.
Sony products have always been best in a pure engineering and spec war, VAIO computers at the best are always more powerful for a power for size ratio than others, Walkman MP3s have always had better sound quality than the rest of the competition, BRAVIA televisions have always been amongst the best for picture quality, but this might not matter.
FLEX OLED could be the product that changes Sony. Make Sony a more influential brand in the eye of most consumers, Flex Oled devices don't have to be heavily specced or extremely powerful, the presence of Flex Oled will open up new doors for interactive user interfaces and appeal to everyone in the way that the iPod touch and iPad have, this will be a product for everyone, not just spec loving business men.

Sony has the ability to create amazing technologies, but are so often too late to bring them to the market and let the others get ahead of them. Flex Oled will be a game changer especially in e-book readers and computers and if Sony gets a good headstart on the competition it could make a huge difference.

Sony's prototypes look interesting, let's hope they don't break their fans hearts again and bring too little, too late.




Flex Oled VAIO concept above.

Video link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgRgiH8ng3Y
Video link for FLEX OLED WALKMAN concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARCNWxJpQN8

the power of marketing

Welcome back to thesonypony blog. I haven't posted in a couple of days and for the most part this post won't be about Sony but about the key to success of all brands in general.

My philosophy is that:

 'you can sell anything, it just a matter of convincing consumers that they need it'

That in my opinion is the hardest part of selling a product and what separates a good product from a runaway product. Sure, some brands can sell products by making them half the price of the rest of the competition (im pointing at you Samsung), but in the end the brands that are able to market their products, convince consumers that their product is the 'thing' and develop a loyal customer base are the ones who will achieve long term success.

If we look in the past and see the brands that were successful, they all had one thing in common: marketing expertise. Sony in the past achieved this and Apple currently is achieving this.
The Walkman became such a success not because it was a great product (no doubt it was though), it was because they showed consumers that it was something that was completely new, something that they needed. Imagine, if Sony hadn't marketed it this way, today we would look back at the Walkman as just another tape player without a record function (in other words an immense fail). Same with the iPod, it could have been just another MP3 player.

Once a brand achieves mainstream success with a certain product, generally they form a loyal customer base. They can ride on this success and release products with the confidence that they can rely on their fans always coming back for more. Generally though, this is the part where companies fall apart, when they reach this point arrogance kicks in and they believe that they can simply ride on the success of their fans and treat them like idiots, offering way too little at a far too high price, they start telling themselves and the world that they are the best, but not nearly enough showing it. That's where Sony lost their balls. Only time will tell whether Apple does the same.

Walkman didn't last, but will be remembered

There have been few gadgets in the past that have captured hearts quite like the original Walkman did. The original Walkman was something truly new, not something that you come by quite often, it was one of those products that made people go: Wow, what the f*ck is this? But its completely awesome! No one even knew about or contemplated the existence of portable music, and for a product to be released that did something people didn't even know existed, well that reaction should have been expected.

Since the Walkman's launch it has sold 220 million units globally, consequentially, changing the lives of some 200 million people around the world allowing them to listen to music, on the go. 

Of course, nothing lasts forever, and a couple of weeks ago Sony quietly announced the cease of production of the cassette Walkman in its home country, Japan. Despite the Walkman's recent shortcomings, it'll always be remembered as one of the greatest engineering feats of all time and one that literally took music to a new level opening up new market potentials for the music industry, and thus forming the basis of the creation of the Apple iPod. 

The Walkman name still lives in MP3 players and some Sony Ericsson music mobiles, and somewhere inside the Portable Audio department at Sony, and in the hearts of all Walkman fans alike, the Walkman will be back some day, stronger than ever. 

TheSonyPony