Not much to add to your analysis, since it's spot on.
I'd only like to add Sony's tendency for crippling devices, probably starting with the MiniDisc and continuing this fine tradition until today.
The underlying basis, of course, is the media division.
It's a shame really, when you look at Sony's past. Hell! The Walkman was an incredibly innovative device. While the iPod essentially was a repackaging of existing technologies (great repackaging, but still) Sony's Walkman was actually the invention of music on the go.
I know exactly what you mean about them crippling their devices. Quite a few years ago now I purchased a portable Sony MiniDisc recorder and a good quality microphone with the intention of recording local gigs, uploading them to my computer, splitting the tracks up, and creating a CD that I could give to the musicians.
Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that, whilst I could digitally upload music to the device, I could not digitally download music from it. Unbelievable! I did a few by attaching the headphone to the mic port on my computer and playing the music in real time, whilst recording on the PC. But this was such a time consuming process that I quickly lost interest. A shame, because I did get a few really good recordings.
The minidisk could have become the digital media if Sony weren't so afraid of piracy. It was relatively cheap, rewritable, couldn't get scratched and had (for the time) very large capacity.
Instead we got single-write cds (no one bothered with rewritable) until finally usb sticks made optical obsolete.
I'd only like to add Sony's tendency for crippling devices, probably starting with the MiniDisc and continuing this fine tradition until today.
The underlying basis, of course, is the media division.
It's a shame really, when you look at Sony's past. Hell! The Walkman was an incredibly innovative device. While the iPod essentially was a repackaging of existing technologies (great repackaging, but still) Sony's Walkman was actually the invention of music on the go.
What a shame.