back to article Sony CEO forced to shush shareholder heckling at fiery AGM

Sony yesterday endured a fiery annual general meeting at which investors heckled CEO Kazuo Hirai. Over a decade of strife, the Japanese giant has become a byword for red ink, failed turnarounds and missed boats. Rivals like Samsung and LG have thrashed it in old markets like televisions while Apple beat it into new markets …

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  1. WalterWonkite

    Sony=Phoney

    Just Google sony viao wifi issue, and you'll see why the shareholders should have burned that wanker at the stake. The company should be broken up and sold for scrap, its rubbish products and lack of true innovation should consign it to history.

    1. Bodhi

      Re: Sony=Phoney

      Lack of true innovation? Are you for real? If anything Sony's problem is the opposite - they innovate first, then figure out afterwards who the hell is going to buy it (Tablet P anyone?).

      And rubbish products? Take it you haven't used many recently then? The current W8 series Bravias, most of the Xperia range, the PS4, the new mirrorless cameras, all cracking products.

      1. h3

        Re: Sony=Phoney

        The PS4 is cheap and nasty. (So is the last revision of the PS3 - The one before was quite good). It is more than an AMD PC in the same form factor but with Double the CPU Clock / Twice as many Streams in the GPU / SSD / Double the RAM.

        Xperia's have rubbish software. (And manufacturing defects Sony refuses to fix that anybody else would have in the same situation - They also lie about software updates(If you promise to do something you should do it period)).

        They don't play well well with others (Everything is proprietary).

        The one interesting thing they were doing they axed. (It was a modern TV that wasn't a downgrade from a CRT in the ways all of other LCD/Plasma's are).

        I liked SDDS but there was never a home version.

        The TV's they use that awful glossy coating that only looks good with no light whatsoever in the room.

        (Add to it the rootkit thing / removing OtherOS (And in doing so getting hacked immediately which was a great thing)).

        Sony is basically a Western company now.

        (Panasonic at least for their decent stuff isn't which is why all my stuff is from them and it is always perfect).

    2. Sandtitz Silver badge

      Re: Sony=Phoney

      I take it you're a VAIO user?

      VAIOs may have a wifi issue (that I was unaware of until your post) but unless that problem is the culprit for Sony's misfortunes - you don't have a point unless the CEO is micromanaging the laptop production. The head of VAIO division perhaps should roll if the debacle is due to poor QA or cutting costs for the sake of it.

      1. asdf

        No Sony=Bony

        Everyone knows its Sony=Bony. Long live the movie Crazy People. AT&T - we're tired of taking your crap! and Porsche. It's a little too small to get laid IN, but you get laid the minute you get out!

      2. Terry007

        Re: Sony=Phoney

        Before buying a SONY product please be aware that the warranty does not cover manufacturing defects i.e. if the product is damaged due to a design or manufacturing fault then the warranty is INVALID

        I have just had this quoted to me by Mr. Anderson in the "Customer Relations" team and when asked to speak to a his manager he advised that he is the manager and would not be able to put me through to anyone else to assist - So you also have to be Very aware of the limited escalation process they have available and the get out of jail quotes they like to utilise.

        Bought the Windows equivalent of the Mac Book the "Sony Vaio" - great design and looks the part when I enter a meeting - only issue I am having is it randomly switches off, flickers or crashes so perhaps not the same quality as the Mac Book - Still a great product as long as you are looking for a style accessory and not a reliable, functioning business tool.

        Would you honestly buy a product from a company that treats it's customers like this and so is it no wonder that the brand cannot support the price point or deliver a competitive advantage?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I think they confuse new versions of the same-old products (Look how many items there are, for example, in the WalkMan series, where they overlap releases etc - The same with the TV lines and let's not forget the over-hyped 3D and how hard can it be to stick to global standards with cellular devices...?) with true innovation.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Problems nearly ALL in Japan

    Until a CEO can get past the Japanese desire to continue doing business as they used to and bring the electronics arm together into a cohesive unit Sony will continue to sink. Outside of Japan Sony Electronics has been reorganised and refocussed, but within the home country it is still an absolute mess. It sucks in profits from elsewhere in the group (including the highly profitable entertainment divisions) and throws them into a hole that refuses to close.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Root kit

    Is all. They deserve all of this and more.

    1. defiler

      Re: Root kit

      My wife bought a CD (Kyle LaGrange) a couple of weeks ago. Crashed Windows 7 on my PC each time I put it on the drive.

      Ubuntu swallowed it no problem.

      This is not an old CD, in fact I think it was released this year. They still seem to be up to all this shit.

      Let's be honest, whilst most of their products are mediocre, Sony still do some good stuff but there's always another company with an excellent equivalent.

      For my money they can go and fuck themselves. Probably won't make much of a dent in their bottom line by myself, but I don't imagine I'm alone.

    2. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: Root kit

      Amen. Burn, Sony, burn. And take all your bullshit proprietary formats will you when you die.

  5. Shannon Jacobs
    Holmes

    I was at the meeting, but not many non-Japanese

    I was actually in the 6th row or thereabouts, and one of the noisiest hecklers was about 4 rows behind me. However, the largest disturbance was around 10:15 in the back of the room. I think it was in the right corner and went on for some minutes.

    However, I'm beginning to think this sort of thing is just sort of normal for Sony... I remember seeing a guy charge the stage at one of the meetings.

  6. oddie

    going forward...

    they should make another memory schtick... one that is incompatible with all previous ones and come in a different form factor. the lack of industry takeup and high pricing will ensure success and riches.

    Or they could make it so that their various hardware platforms could interact and become more than the sum of their parts, and then make sure that the functionality was never used... the hidden potential would be a market differentiator and drive sales for sure.

    Or they could yet again take an industry standard, improve it in un-measurable and only known to themselves ways, make sure its changed enough to be incompatible with everything else, sprinkle some DRM on it and then sit back and watch the hordes of customers walk past.

    or they could start stealing underpants.

    either way; its profits ahead.

    1. El_Fev

      Re: going forward...

      Never has a post summed up a company so much, I'm thinking of creating some more accounts just to upvote you more!

    2. This Side Up

      Re: going forward...

      Or they could design user interfaces that are non-intuitive and don't do what you want them to do, so that customers never come back again.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: going forward...

        For a while, Sony and Samsung were tied in my mind. The components were usually the same (Trinitron excepted) so it usually came down to the glam/UI. Being the oft engineer that I am, the nod went to Samsung. The greatest exception to that rule were the MultiSyncs. [BTW, every artist who crossed my path usually got the same advice. Apple and/or Sony.] Nowadays, my recommendations only happen after a serious question & answer session. The market is that fragmented/segmented.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: going forward...

      Your loss.

      Sony make the best cameras bar none. The A7r destroys Nikons and Cannon that are over twice the price. The Sony A6000 is doing the same in the mirrorless sector. So much so, that Nikon, Canon, Olympus all now use Sony sensors in their cameras..

      In consoles, the PS4 is totally destroying the Xbox One, not just because it's a well designed and manufacturered bit of kit, but also because of Microsoft's greed in cheapskating on the one's specs to save money and maximise their profits.

      In phones, the Xperia Z2 is pretty much the best phone on the market today.

      I don't give a crap about "rootkits" from 10 years ago, "rootkits" that weren't even rootkits, they were misguided attempts at preventing CD copying.

      Does anyone else see a theme in oddie's post? Basically, if it's something that tries to stop him getting free pirated stuff, then that's bad and must be stopped. So memorysticks that have hardware DRM on them, bad because SD cards didn't. OtherOS removal that closed down PS3 piracy, that's bad too, SonyBMG/First4Internet XCP that stopped him copying CD's that's bad too.

      In otherwords, upset freetards.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  7. MJI Silver badge

    So variable

    When they get it right Sony get it really right, when they get it wrong well you all know what happens.

    As someone whose entire tube TV purchasing history has been Trinitron based (remember those lovely FD Trinitrons from the 1990s) you do tend to watch what they are up to.

    Back in the 80s and early 90s Sony kit had this aura of quality, which to be honest was earned, look at the home video market, was there ever a video recorder as well engineered as the SL-C9? Their last PAL deck was a rather good one, brilliant picture and sound but was not as well engineered as the C9.

    They have managed to turn technical successes into commercial failures. They tried too hard for the cheap market where to be honest they are crap. I still cannot work out how they managed to screw Minidisc.

    The TV division may make losses but their TVs are still good, among the better ones, losing that would be rather sad. But people want cheap not quality, look what happened to Pioneer.

    HiFi - best to completely give up the cheap crap and stick with upmarket portables, mid range Home Cinema, and esoteric HiFi.

    Viao best gone, stylish but they are not a PC company.

    Imaging, well this is a core market, they need to work on this.

    Games, they need to deliver on these games they promised.

    Phones, make proper use of their imaging and audio brands, and their styling and really go for it

    It used to be that if you bought something from Sony, you knew it would be good, it would last, and it would look stylish, now it is buyer beware.

    They have a long haul ahead of them, but I think they have the reserves to make it.

    1. Fihart

      Re: So variable @MJI

      Half right about the trini tellies -- great picture but terrible remote/interface.

      I was speaking with an old colleague last week about this very subject and he recalled how at the ad agency we worked for in the 80s the conference rooms had Sony monitors and video players -- few, if anyone, could get the monitors to talk to the players.

    2. John 104

      Re: So variable

      @MJI

      My Sony receiver is probably 8 years old and going strong. Much to my chagrin. I really want a new one with HDMI switching and keep waiting for this one to die, but it just WON'T!

      That said, the Carosel DVD player I bought along with it died within 2 years.

      And then I did it again. I bought a Sony BD player. It really is nice. I have an android app I can use to control it via Wi-Fi, and it does all sorts of neat things that I don't use. :) Chances are, when my Vizio TV bites the dust (is that ever going to happen?) I'll buy a Bravia or whatever the latest is just so I can integrate my controls.

      So, they can do SOME things right, just not much compared to days of old.

      1. defiler

        Re: So variable

        Yep. I have an old STR-VA555ES hooked up to the telly and it'sa magnificent beast. But it predates HDMI because I got it 12 years ago.

        I can't justify chucking it because it's such a nice amp, and I can still coax my current equipment to go optical for audio (even though it took ages to get the timing right).

        When they get it right, Sony get it right; but it doesn't happen often enough. And there's always an equivalent by someone else these days.

  8. Ol' Grumpy

    Problem for me is that they release something like a TV or Smartphone and are way behind the curve on updates if indeed any are forthcoming. That said, I got a message on my LG TV this morning telling me that I had to consent to letting it send details of what I watch back to LG if I wanted to use some of the online services ....

    Maybe Sony aren't so bad after all ....

    1. Bodhi

      As a proud owner of a 2014 Bravia and several Xperias, I'd have to say Sony's update process is fine. We've had the telly for about 3 months now and had 4 updates, and I've lost count of the amount of updates they've pushed out to the Xperia Z. They tend to be a little behind Samsung on the phones, but as each update almost always bring new features (on top of what is in the Android upgrades), I'm fairly happy with that.

      Typically when buying electronic devices I'll look at the Sony option first, then if thats no good look elsewhere, but this does mean I have quite a bit of Sony kit around the house. What has impressed me with them over the past 2 or 3 years, is how well it all hangs together. Want content from your phone on the TV? Easy. Want to play music from your phone on the PS3? Easy. Want to use a PS3 controller to play games on the phone? Easy. What's even more shocking to me, after years of Sony kit only playing nicely with other Sony kit, is how well it works with other brands as well. In fact the only brand it doesn't play nicely with is Apple, and that's nowt to do with Sony.....

      Really hope Sony can turn it around and get back to close to where they were - they've done so many fantastic products over the years, and the current "big" electronics brands really don't blow my skirt up. Samsung and LG do fairly forgettable kit that seems inspired (read: copied) from what everyone else is doing, and any innovations they come up with on their own seem fairly pointless (curved TV screens - why why why), and Apple, well, they're Apple. OK Sony haven't been perfect over the years (the rootkit a subsidiary put on a CD without Sony's knowledge, the PSN thing), but I'd say the good far outweighs the bad.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    innovation

    Just need to look at their photography division to see that they are still innovating. Recent purchase of the A7r, not perfect but an amazing camera in so many ways for the size of the thing. Also, big fan of the Playstation - PS4 seems to be doing nicely. Only reason I have not bought a sony phone is because they only run Android - which I think is still a pile of shit. Too bad, as apart from the OS, the phones seem great.

    Their products are no worse than Samsung, but marketing could be better.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: innovation

      PlaystationTV is a game changer for sure and a day one purchase for me.

  10. Stretch

    The root kit thing will rankle for a while.

    But i have a new Sony tablet and it is really awesome. Best one on the market right now. So they are starting to get back to doing things well.

    They need to push Walkman more. They should use this brand to back up a music streaming offering that the indies would get behind. They could easily beat Google in this space if they are willing to let others make a profit too.

    And I never understood why they sold Viao. "They're not a PC company" is such a silly statement. They were making really quite desirable laptops. Its so hard to buy a laptop you would actually want due to sheer number of macscum ruining everything, willing to pay through the nose for poor sample hardware with massive return rates running second rate software. Surely there is scope there. Simple education would be enough.

  11. davemcwish

    VIAO Quality

    Not surprised. Bought the SWMBO a laptop, lasted < 2 years before it died due to a system board issue. Local shop was unable to source the spare part.

  12. Fatman

    Sony's AGM

    At least Sony's CEO didn't have an angry stockholder walk up to the podium, and lay a katana down on it.

    </snark>

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: Sony's AGM

      You say that like it's a bad thing. I think someone should have.

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