From: Adam Rifkin -4K (adam@XeNT.ics.uci.edu)
Date: Thu Aug 17 2000 - 18:10:22 PDT
The Sony PEO sounds like the nicest PDA this side of the iPaq:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-2251610.html
On the other hand, Sony's Bluetooth Info Schtick (slated for release
next year) sounds like the stuff dreams are made of...
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-2549779.html
Also, the resurrection of the Walkman name is a great move. Brand is
everything, and Sony is still the master of the brand...
> Sony resurrects Walkman brand for MP3s
> By David Becker
> Staff Writer, CNET News.com
> August 17, 2000, 4:40 p.m. PT
>
> SAN FRANCISCO--Dig out those skinny ties and Jazzercise tapes: The
> Walkman is coming back.
>
> Sony's groundbreaking portable music player, a cultural mainstay of the
> 1980s, has languished in the past decade, as CDs and other digital music
> formats have displaced cassette tapes.
>
> But Walkman is still a valuable brand name, according to Fujio Nishida,
> president of Sony Electronics. So the electronics giant plans to
> resurrect the name for all of its portable music players, starting later
> this year with a new line of MP3 Walkmans.
>
> In addition, expect Sony to dive into the market for Internet devices
> and cell phones, Nishida said during a press briefing today in San
> Francisco. Sony intends to develop an Internet appliance "that's much
> easier (to use) even than WebTV," Nishida said.
>
> The new Walkman lineup that will come out this year includes the MS
> Walkman, a digital player based on Sony's removable storage medium
> called Memory Stick. Sony previewed the MS Walkman, about the size of a
> Milky Way, last November at Comdex.
>
> Also in the pipes is the MC Walkman, a player that uses Sony's MiniDisc
> format but also incorporates a digital-to-analog converter for loading
> MP3 audio files from a PC.
>
> "We have to revitalize that Walkman brand," Nishida said. "It's such a
> huge asset, like Trinitron," Sony's ubiquitous color-screen technology.
>
> The new music players will come with a major advertising campaign
> featuring an alien mascot that looks like a cross between E.T. and a Smurf.
>
> Nishida also revealed plans for the Info Stick, a device that will fit
> in any Memory Stick slot and transfer data via a wireless connection to
> another device using the Bluetooth standard. The Info Stick is expected
> to hit the market next year.
>
> Nishida also broadly commented on Sony's evolving plans to capitalize on
> the spread of broadband Internet access by entering the Internet
> appliance market and resurrecting its cell phone business.
>
> Sony had given up on the cell phone market because the business model
> has been dictated by wireless carriers for all but the two or three
> biggest handset manufacturers, he said. That should change during the
> next couple of years, however, as third-generation handsets enter the
> market to capitalize on wireless Internet access.
>
> "Broadband is changing the landscape of the business," Nishida said.
>
> The broadband boom is also pushing Sony to work on its own entry into
> the increasingly crowded market for Internet appliances. Nishida said
> there's still room in the market for anyone who comes up with a better
> user interface.
>
> Nishida also announced the following:
>
> Sony's upcoming Palm-based handheld computer will be called the PEO,
> short for Personal Entertainment Organizer.
>
> The ongoing components shortage is affecting even those companies
> that make their own chips. Nishida said sales of DVD players have
> suffered because Sony can't pump out enough of its digital signal
> processors. "If we had enough product, they easily could achieve 1
> million unit sales" this year, he said.
>
> Music buyers will have another format choice by the end of the year.
> Sony will introduce in America its SA (Super Audio) CD player, already
> available in Japan. The format promises better audio quality by cramming
> nearly twice as much data onto a disc--for a price. Players will be in
> the $2,000 range.
>
> Sony doesn't expect that American sales of its PlayStation2 game
> console will cannibalize sales of CD players, as has happened in Japan.
> The consoles play both game discs and DVD movies, a major selling point
> in Sony's home country, where DVD players still carry premium prices.
> Nishida said more than 50 percent of Japanese consumers over 30 who
> bought a PlayStation2 did so primarily because of its DVD capability.
---- Adam@4K-Associates.ComFORTUNE Magazine recently named 4Kids (NASDAQ: KIDE) as the No. 1 Fastest-Growing Company in America. In its September 4, 2000 issue, FORTUNE selected the "100 Fastest Growing Companies" based on earnings per share (EPS), revenue growth and total stock market return for a period of three years. -- http://www.quicken.com/investments/news/story/bw/?story=/news/stories/bw/20000817/a2476.htm
Pokemon(R) and Mello Smello(R) Join Forces to Help Kids Eat Right: Your kids won't eat their spinach? Poke-mania can help. Pikachu(TM) and his Pokemon(R) friends will appear on bookmarks and lunch bags beginning this fall to help school children learn about good nutrition. -- http://www.quicken.com/investments/news/story/pr/?story=/news/stories/pr/20000817/NYFNSE18.htm
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