(Yes, I actually read through the whole thing. Do I get a cookie?)
A bit of perspective:
In the late 80s USA Sony Walkmen were pretty much standard. They were really good cassette players that were great quality for the price.
In the early 90s, Sony makes a CD walkman. It doesn't really take off as well as the cassette player. Competition is able to easily duplicate CD players and undercut Sony while improving quality. I pretty much call it the "Sony tax" at this point: You pay more money for the same model because it's the Sony brand.
By the late 90s...Apple? I mean really Sony, ball dropped. You should have been all over that. How could you let a computer company take away your music player? Oh right, you kept trying to push your...um...AAC3 format or whatever it is *allows a tech head to correct* instead of innovating your product to play off a hard drive.
And that's how I see the Sony of recent times: They have the knowhow and research to create new technology, but instead of giving it to everyone they yell "MINE! Now YOU pay for it!" and are surprised when everyone says no.
There is no such thing as a console war. This is the first step to game design.
