Sony lost this GEN before it even started

[Dodece]

The problem for Sony is their propensity towards callous exploitation. Which in turn decimates their obligation to good customer service. Stringer has mentioned his companies poor public perception in this regard. Sony in its rush for fast cash has trampled the very loyal customer that it needs to succeed. The problem succinctly is how they view consumers, and how they treat them.

Sony can work themselves out of their position of piss poor reputation. However the process will not be over night. Repairing their reputation and restoring their brand will take time, and will require some fundamental changes in their corporate culture. The first problem is the lying.

The corporate executives at Sony have shown themselves to be pathological liars. No remorse, no apology, and above all no restitution. When you tell lies people firstly will laugh at you, then they will not believe anything you say, and finally they will stop listening. When someone stops listening it is nigh impossible to sell something to them. Sony needs for its executives to be accountable for their conduct. A company doesn't have a god given right to lie to consumers, and create bogus claims. Sad though it may be Sony needs to fire a great many executives to get the point across that lying will not be tolerated.

Sony needs to prioritize their goals. The first goal should be customer retention. Not customer acquisition. Getting a new customer costs ten times as much as retaining the customer you have. To trade a new customer at the expense of the one you have is a bad business practice. I guarantee had Sony been taking care of the customers they had their console would be in the lead right now. Instead they focused on exploiting their customers rather then retaining them. The result they lost a lot of customers they will now have to win back at substantial cost.

Sony needs to resolve their conflicts of interest. Placing anti piracy features in your hardware for example reduces the hardwares functionality. Placing Trojan horses on your software devalues the hardware. Focusing on proprietary in house products should not come at the cost of using cheaper external hardware. Sony did not learn from Nintendo's own cart debacle.

Sony needs to make promises, and keep those promises. Over selling or a lack of follow through is the same thing as lying to the average consumer. You must deliver, and you must do so in a timely manner. Consumers will not tolerate this for long. The only thing empty promises gets you are jaded customers, or consumers that are soon to be buying someone else's products.

What Sony really needs are some strong corporate ethics. They need to follow the golden rule, and treat consumers in a respectable manner. Your never going to be the top dog if your mentality towards your customers is to lie to them, make exaggerated claims, take them for granted, and abuse them out of your own self interest. Your just going to alienate more people by behaving like this. That is how Sony has been behaving as a whole.