| KBG29 said: As others have said, they have started to make money in both divisions, but they definitely could do better. I fully believe that more unification is needed to grow. Their premium TV's should be using the PS4 OS and APU, and the movie studio should be doing more work on Movie and TV tie ins to the game IP. Sony has a deep library of likeable characters from SCIWWS that could be very successful in video. No doubt that Apple and Google are the goliaths of the mobile world. Sony can not compete on a sales level, but those 3.4M Xperia Phones they sold would have had massively increased value if they were running on PS4 tech, the PS4 OS, and getting content through PS Store instead of Android and Google Play. I know the tech for a full fledged PS4 Handheld or Phone is not there yet, but when it becomes viabke it is something that needs serious consideration. Expanding their OS, Store Font, Software, and Services to more form factors will be vital to contined growth and success. |
1) The PS4 APU would increase the price of each TV a lot, with few gains. Smart TVs have more media apps than the PS4. The only benefit I could see would play PS4 games, but why would you add a high cost to a TV like that? It's better to simply make deals and bundle consoles with TV.
2) The PS4 has a like a dozen apps. Just media stuff. People want way more apps on their phones than that. The PS4 OS is also nowhere near ready for a phone. Read the Android API docs just to have an idea of how many stuff Google packed there. Android has hundreds of thousands of apps, all the big names, dev mind share. It's insane to put a fight. And let's be honest, Sony can't even make a hardware as compelling as other manufacturers. While they produce the best sensors, the Xperia line is always subpar compared to Samsung/Apple/Google/HTC/LG offers. Samsung has better screens. They can't even ship phones in the US with a fingerprint sensor. If they removed Android from these devices, you bet these 3.4M phones would soon be close to zero.
MS tried to put a fight against Android and was anihilated. Blackberry and Nokia too. All these companies had way more expertise and MS had way more money (they even went as far as acquiring the largest phone manufacturer in the world). Supposing that a new OS will have any more success with Android being like 3 years more mature is not reasonable.
Now, a handheld is a reasonable thing since its a gaming device, so it's their expertise. Anyway, I think that ship long sailed. Not even Nintendo seems to have dedicated handhelds anymore, they will just stick to hybrids.
