Yep, I agree. This has been my stance for awhile. When a bunch of people keep crying that Sony will make another $100 price cut this year, I have always scoffed and said at best you would see $50. More than likely $0 - $30.

Nice read.

@ shams )

"throwing in the towel" doesn't mean to acknoledge, that you can't win, it's the sign to give up and stop the fight to not risk any worse injuries

therefore this proverb doesn't fit to the situation

Chadius said: This is a great thread (once people stopped interpreting "throw in the towel.") From a business POV, I'm glad Sony is pulling back and trying to gain profit instead of burning its funds.

Too many people interpret any form of not continuing as surrender. Retreat is surrender. Startegic withdrawing is surrender. Calling for a truce is surrender.

Or in non-war cases, backing off in anyway is surrender. Conceding any point is surrender (or assuming the other person surrendered). Merely waiting and seeing is surrender.

So throwing in the towel mean surrender to them.

So concentrating on profitability as opposed to marketshare is called throwing in the towel now ? what happened to calling it good business sense...

Imperial said: So concentrating on profitability as opposed to marketshare is called throwing in the towel now ? what happened to calling it good business sense...

If you do not take the term to mean giving up completely, then yes. They threw in the towel for marketshare, as it was costing them too much. Nintendo threw in the towel to have the strongest system, as it was costing them too much marketshare. 

LordTheNightKnight said: Imperial said: So concentrating on profitability as opposed to marketshare is called throwing in the towel now ? what happened to calling it good business sense... If you do not take the term to mean giving up completely, then yes. They threw in the towel for marketshare, as it was costing them too much. Nintendo threw in the towel to have the strongest system, as it was costing them too much marketshare.

 The phrase "throw in the towel" in the contexts where it is typical used ( boxing being one ) means to compleltey give up , surrender , quit.

 

Sony is by no means doing any of the above, they're re-evaluating the prioties and they've established a change in strategy is neccasery to acheive profitability. This isn't Sony saying "omg we give up" , this is Sony say " our current formular obviously isn't working , we need to change it".

 The way in which your using the phrase is completley wrong.

Imperial said: LordTheNightKnight said: Imperial said: So concentrating on profitability as opposed to marketshare is called throwing in the towel now ? what happened to calling it good business sense... If you do not take the term to mean giving up completely, then yes. They threw in the towel for marketshare, as it was costing them too much. Nintendo threw in the towel to have the strongest system, as it was costing them too much marketshare. The phrase "throw in the towel" in the contexts where it is typical used ( boxing being one ) means to compleltey give up , surrender , quit.   Sony is by no means doing any of the above, they're re-evaluating the prioties and they've established a change in strategy is neccasery to acheive profitability. This isn't Sony saying "omg we give up" , this is Sony say " our current formular obviously isn't working , we need to change it". The way in which your using the phrase is completley wrong.

It means to give up, but just one match. If you consider the marketshare to be just one match, it is. Sony cannot get larger market share without further losses, so they are giving that up for now. They could try again later, like a rematch. 

LordTheNightKnight said: Imperial said: LordTheNightKnight said: Imperial said: So concentrating on profitability as opposed to marketshare is called throwing in the towel now ? what happened to calling it good business sense... If you do not take the term to mean giving up completely, then yes. They threw in the towel for marketshare, as it was costing them too much. Nintendo threw in the towel to have the strongest system, as it was costing them too much marketshare. The phrase "throw in the towel" in the contexts where it is typical used ( boxing being one ) means to compleltey give up , surrender , quit.   Sony is by no means doing any of the above, they're re-evaluating the prioties and they've established a change in strategy is neccasery to acheive profitability. This isn't Sony saying "omg we give up" , this is Sony say " our current formular obviously isn't working , we need to change it". The way in which your using the phrase is completley wrong. It means to give up, but just one match. If you consider the marketshare to be just one match, it is. Sony cannot get larger market share without further losses, so they are giving that up for now. They could try again later, like a rematch.

 Market share and profitability be equal but they still do have a significant impact on the other . Sony isn't giving up on market share or profitabilty , they still want  to compete with the 360 and the Wii however they won't compete as feircly as they did previously for the sake of maintaninf profitability. It's a shift in priority as opposed to neglecting atempts to gain marketshare , Sony are still in the race they just have a different strategy. "Throwing in the towel" has no relevance to Sony right now . 

 

Imperial said: LordTheNightKnight said: Imperial said: LordTheNightKnight said: Imperial said: So concentrating on profitability as opposed to marketshare is called throwing in the towel now ? what happened to calling it good business sense... If you do not take the term to mean giving up completely, then yes. They threw in the towel for marketshare, as it was costing them too much. Nintendo threw in the towel to have the strongest system, as it was costing them too much marketshare. The phrase "throw in the towel" in the contexts where it is typical used ( boxing being one ) means to compleltey give up , surrender , quit.   Sony is by no means doing any of the above, they're re-evaluating the prioties and they've established a change in strategy is neccasery to acheive profitability. This isn't Sony saying "omg we give up" , this is Sony say " our current formular obviously isn't working , we need to change it". The way in which your using the phrase is completley wrong. It means to give up, but just one match. If you consider the marketshare to be just one match, it is. Sony cannot get larger market share without further losses, so they are giving that up for now. They could try again later, like a rematch. Market share and profitability be equal but they still do have a significant impact on the other . Sony isn't giving up on market share or profitabilty , they still want to compete with the 360 and the Wii however they won't compete as feircly as they did previously for the sake of maintaninf profitability. It's a shift in priority as opposed to neglecting atempts to gain marketshare , Sony are still in the race they just have a different strategy. "Throwing in the towel" has no relevance to Sony right now .

You're using it in too broad terms. The OP means a narrow thing they are throwing the towel in. Of course Sony isn't conceding marketshare, but they are not going directly for it until they are ready. 

This is NOT discontinuing the PS3, which is the straw man you were suggesting (or else why would you have written that?).

I absolutely agree with Imperial. "Throwing in the towel" implies, or even explicitly states, that Sony is "giving up." They aren't. They're just shifting from a marketshare driven philosophy to a profit driven one -- likely at the cost of marketshare.

Obviously, Sony could achieve 99% marketshare if they made the PS3 1 dollar and funneled all their funds into it. They may go bankrupt, but they'd win the marketshare race. Or, on the other hand, they could never make another price cut, see their sales dwindle, but never have to worry about fiscal losses again.

In reality, their strategy will be somewhere in between. Before, they were clearly willing to lose billions of dollars to gain marketshare. Now they are willing to sacrifice significant marketshare to make money. That's what this change represents. They aren't quitting -- or, as Sham put it, "throwing in the towel" -- at all.

Personally, I believe this shift in corporate strategy is long overdue and much welcomed.