Memo To Mr. Stringer: You Might Want To Rethink That

“Yes, yes, Apple makes an iPad, but does it make a movie?” Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said in a presentation at Berlin’s annual consumer electronics fair yesterday. “We will prove that it’s not who makes the tablet first who counts but who makes it better.”

Bloomberg/BusinessWeek September 1, 2011

The combination of the first and last sentences in the same paragraph suggests to me that because Sony makes content, they believe that will in some unspecified way make their tablets better than that coming from tablet companies that don’t, Apple specifically.

Hmmm, let me think about that.

I don’t buy gas from the same companies that make the cars I put the gas into, the companies that sell me dishes don’t sell me food, and I’ve never bought a hat from anyone who’s ever cut my hair.

Sony’s been in the hardware and content businesses long enough for me and millions others to have long ago decided that just because they are there is not reason enough for us to buy their stuff. I have and will buy Sony, but not because they also make movies.

Given their past proven ability to design great products, Sony could very well come up with a better tablet.  But for their sake I hope they’ve got an alternative strategy just in case just in case the “We will because we make both movies and tablets” concept doesn’t work out as they hope.

William Matthies is the CEO of Coyote Insight (www.coyoteinsight.com) and can be reached at wmatthies@coyoteinsight.com or at (714) 726-2901. Visit Business Wisdom at http://businesswisdom101.blogspot.com/