Apple and Sony

As we know, this is the week of both Macworld and the CES (Consumer Electronics Show). One marks the end of an era, the final Macworld. In a style that is very…well…Apple, they’ve never exhibited at the CES. They had Macworld, where their cult following would line up religiously for the most anticipated Keynote speech of the technology year. The last Keynote speech went on today without much fanfare. Phil Schiller, in the absence of Steve Jobs, did a fine presentation with the material he had, and in fact reassured us that the company’s talent runs deep. But there weren’t any exciting product introductions, and it already made me miss Steve’s black turtleneck and incredible presentation style. It made me think about what Steve Jobs has done, the competition he was up against, and how, with so many companies in dire straights, we can hope for similar stories in the near future.

I will never forget listening to digital music for the first time. The Bach harpsichord music was the most incredible sound I'd ever heard, and I spent half of the show (CES) inside a pod in the Sony booth, holding a sample of a silver "compact disc" and listening to the same loop over and over in awe. I also remember being in Tokyo, standing in the middle of the Ginza and having the same experience with digital TV. Sony had a demonstration area right in the center, a tent with a movie playing on the first giant HDTV. Once again, the clarity of digitization was amazing, overwhelming when viewed from an analog world. Sony was first with both technologies and their marketing, and at that time the brand was synonymous with “the best”.

Sony was Trinitron, it was Walkman, and it was the best quality with beautiful design at the highest prices. They were the company who made us associate Japan with electronics instead of RCA. I do still have a Sony laptop (the only Sony item in the house), but this week’s news of their corporate upheaval during the biggest electronic trade shows of the year make me think about how things change.

In a move similar to Apple’s initial failures, Sony missed the logical segue of the Walkman to digital music (although people forget the conflicts of interest here with the Sony Music division and DRM). They missed again with PlayStation (to Microsoft, whose incredible lead in gaming is for another post). They forced us to use Memory Sticks in order to stay in their orbit, even when they started to lose footing. And now they are no longer the name to beat.

Because Steve Jobs took Apple, the company who missed their clear early OS advantage by refusing to license it to hardware manufacturers at the wrong time, and turned it around. They were on the brink of failure. Even with the odds stacked heavily against it, Apple took over Sony’s reign. He reinvented the company, the vision, and the entire entertainment industry. Everybody liked him (and the underdog status vs Microsoft), the music companies were willing to make deals with him, the design of the products were gorgeous and simple and to this day, command higher prices. Apple is a great interest intersection in this family, although we won’t know for years what permanent ear buds do to a kid’s hearing.

What a great success story. With fantastic vision and nimble leadership, Apple took the place of the incumbent (Sony). We could use a story like that right now. It would be great to see it happen to automakers in this country, but of course the story there is far more complicated. And for many reasons, it doesn’t look like Steve Jobs will be available to do it any time soon.

And Just One More Thing. I hope you are not too sick Steve.