5.5 Million PS3s Shipped

[johnlucas]

reverie said:
John, I don't really know what your point is. Sold to retail is what matters to investors of Sony, that's what they have reported this time (3.6 million). And sold to consumers is what matters to consumers? I don't think so. You're just thinking of yourself as the most important customer. In a couple of years, RFID will help a lot to track units sold more precisely across the whole chain (which also includes distributors, not just Sony, retail and consumers), but it will still be at the discretion of Sony if they release more numbers or not. Remember, they just have to release figures for investors. If they weren't on the stock market, they wouldn't have to publizise anything at all. And 3rd party figures from NPD or Media Create will *always* be estimates based on statistic samples. How could that not be obvious.

See that's what I'm talking about. Sold to retail SHOULDN'T matter to investors alone. If not in context to what's sold to customers it's meaningless. What I'm talking about is this practice of leaving the most important part of the chain. They can discuss figures all they want but if the so-called consumers aren't buying then none of what ANYTHING they do matters. THAT'S what I'm talking about.

I KNOW HOW they do things. What I'm saying is that's not the right focus. And the attitude to the one who puts food on your table is what irks me. I'm not talking about ME. I'm talking about US. We who buy and purchase this stuff. If businesspeople think they are above the customers they're serving then they will go out of business.

At their discretion, my ass. That's the problem and the investors should have a problem with that as well. They put their own money in to fund the company's ventures and the company can't be straight about their true performance??? It's an insult when people pass off shipped or sold to retail numbers as evidence of success. That number matters when linked to sold to customers. Which makes it more easy to sell more to more retailers. XBox 360 is proof in pudding of sold to retailers not meaning a hill of beans. How many months have we seen 9 million?

I don't care about what IS practiced or what is legal. I care about what is RIGHT. Corporations got this powerful because of people not holding their practices to task. That's how stock market crashes happen. That's how the internet bubble popped. That's how goods ended up getting made overseas gutting jobs. That's how outsourcing got started. That's how Enron did its dirt.

How simple do I have to make it? If the customer is not included in the conversation who are you serving? The investor must be respected but if customer means nothing then why produce a product? He's the whole reason any of you got your positions in the first place.

A hotel manager who can't respect the maids who keep the rooms tidy needs to go under. A general who doesn't respect the work of the grunt privates in the trenches needs to be uprooted. The one who makes the machine work is ALWAYS the most important. The attitude of condescendation toward the very one who makes the whole thing possible will never be tolerated by me and it shouldn't by you either. A boss is never more important than his workers.

It's deception and I don't tolerate deception. What have you SOLD for REAL? How is your product REALLY doing? No non-GAAP nonsense. What is on the books now? I don't accept your "gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today", Wimpy. Keep that check is in the mail garbage. This is important to customers as WELL as investors. I can't invest in a company that can't be straight with me. And I can't buy from a company that won't be straight with me.

It's a simple thing called honesty and with how corporations have conducted themselves so long I can see why my words seem to be from a foreign language. No one expects what should be done and have accepted deceptive practices.

And besides investors don't care about sold to retail; they care about net profit and the returns on their shares. 

John Lucas