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Sony Kills off Aibo, Qrio, Qualia

Posted by Hemos on Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:35 AM
from the and-johnny-five dept.
Robotics
Tomo-chan writes "It seems Sony's cost-cutting has made it a more pragmatic company. The new boss has weilded his mighty chopper and put an end to both Aibo and Qrio, as well as some other marginal product lines. Aibo -- we'll miss you..."
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  • I think the proper title should be "the consumer market killed off some of Sony's fad products." Sony wouldn't kill off products that made them a profit. A profit is the only proof of a product's viability -- if people are willing to pay you to perform a service or build a product, your ability to profit proves if the product/service is worthy of your time.

    I think we'll see more of these fad/trend items from other Asian manufacturers start to fall out of the production lines. The U.S. is one of the biggest consumers of these useless products, and personal debt is way too high to keep buying more stuff that depreciates 60% the minute it hits the house. With Americans buying less, Asian manufacturers have to reorganize their product lines for items that we do need.

    Sony is already out of my buying schedule -- the rootkit and the overall low quality of products they've made in recent years have led me to decide to never buy their products again. I help a few cEOs and upper management types from my client base purchase home electronics and appliances -- I'll always tell them never buy Sony. I remember a few years ago how many of these 6+ figure income types were asking about Aibo and other eccentric toys, nowadays I hear nothing of the sort. Even worse, I don't even hear the wealthy elites asking about the latest flat panel TVs, high end GPS systems or the latest computer gadgets. If the wealthy are having a hard time staying on the 18 month upgrade cycle, what does that say about the economy?

    Sony is probably smart to start slicing and dicing. The best thing they can do is refocus on their higher end line -- people who can afford the expense will want the best quality product available. I hate seeing a company I loved become a company I hate. They chased the common man, and their products suffered for it. They chased markets created out of force against consumer action (music, movies, etc) to give their previous customers even more reason to hate them.

    Sony, if you're listening and you want to be pragmatic (meaning practical), chop it all out. Sell it all off. Return to Japan, make high end products with meticulous attention to detail and care. Love your customers again -- those willing to pay for the product quality and service. Don't chase the Best Buy guy (or the Circuit City kitty?) -- let the upper echelon come to you.

    Billions in annual sales at a 2% margin makes less sense than hundreds of millions at a 20% margin. Here's a hint for all you future entrepreneurs: the only thing that will keep you profitable is to keep your customers happy and offer them a consistency in your performance -- product quality and customer service. Ignore the trends, the fads and trying to sell everything to everyone.

    • Re:Truly bad product timing or economic pressure? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by silentbozo (542534) on Thursday January 26 2006, @11:56AM (#14568959) Journal
      I think the problem is that Sony is dropping their R&D products in favor of going for what will soon be commodity items. Not a smart thing to do, but it's the "safe" thing to do. The problem is, competition in Korea and Taiwan ate that lunch a long time ago. The more Sony retreats from the markets it currently occupies (Clies, for example), the more consumer mindshare it's giving up. At that point, they're competing pretty much just on price, and I'm afraid that all it's going to do it kill Sony, ESPECIALLY if they're still being hamstrung by directives from their Media Entertainment division.
      • Yes, I believe you are right. I also believe that the Internet is starting to bring free market ideals into action. I don't believe mega-corporations can exist for very long without government subsidies or favoritism. Now we have instant information, reviews, and feature and price comparisons. Sony can't compete on that level.

        I believe Sony's (and most megacorps') best option would be to spin off into 5-10 separate companies. There is nothing wrong with these 10 companies (and maybe 20 other companies
    • Sell it all off. Return to Japan, make high end products with meticulous attention to detail and care.

      I trust you mean, in part, by this to get their manufacturing out of Mexico, which has truly contributed to the destruction of their reputation.

      • Mexican plants are perfictly able to produce high quality products; Sony is not paying them to do so. The problem has nothing at all to do with Mexican labor vs. some other location.
        • Mexican plants are perfictly able to produce high quality products; Sony is not paying them to do so.

          You may offer any explanation -- or excuse -- you wish, but the end result is still the same. Sony hecho en Mexico is Junk!

        • Re:Put down the pipe... (Score:4, Funny)

          by flyingsquid (813711) on Thursday January 26 2006, @01:43PM (#14570492)
          Mexican plants are perfictly able to produce high quality products

          I dunno about that. Last time I had anything produced from a Mexican plant, it was a bottle of Señor Borracho's Old Style Blue Agave Tequila, and next thing you know, I wake up in a Tijuana jail wearing nothing but a Mexican stripper's panties on my head. I'm never touching that shit again, man.

    • It would have been one less in the MPAA and one less in the RIAA.
    • profit is the only proof of a product's viability -- if people are willing to pay you to perform a service or build a product, your ability to profit proves if the product/service is worthy of your time.

      What you say is true. However, profit is the end result of a number of different factors, not including marketing/promotion, pricing, distribution, quality, etc. If there's profit, you're doing well. If there's not, you're not.

      What I'd like to know is what will happen to the Aibo knockoffs (the $20-$100 Robo
    • On the same vein, my dad's first TV was a Sony that lasted upwards of 15 years without a problem. Since then he always bought Sony TVs. Over the last decade he has come to me for advice on electronics.

      I pointed him towards the iMac 21" G5. He will never willingly use Windows again.

      I got him a iPod for Christmas. His CD collection will never leave the house again.

      Now he's looking for a new TV to replace his Sony 65" XBR that's about a dozen years old. I think I'm going to have him get a Samsung. I don'
      • Exactly. You paid a premium for a high quality product with higher quality service. The free market in action :)

        Samsung is the ONLY television company I will buy from right now (other than large screen projectors). The last 3 TVs I helped people buy were from Samsung. My cell phone is from Samsung. These people answer their e-mails and phone calls, and they've fixed any problem I've had in recent years.

        Good choices, good post.
      • In Japan, if you want to display your financial superiority, you buy cool electronic toys - ultra-light laptops... In the US, you buy a big car

        In short, in the U.S. if you have a small penis you buy big stuff. But in Japan, if you have a small penis you buy really small stuff. I guess it is a little less obvious that you're compensating when you do it that way.

  • I hope you're happy! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Thud457 (234763) on Thursday January 26 2006, @11:38AM (#14568656) Homepage Journal
    Sony's got to cut back to the bone to survive because you piratical sons-of-bitches aren't buying enough Ricky Martin CDs!!
  • PETER, you know, People for the Ethical Treatment of Entertaining Robots?

    Rumour has it that these Sony products have rootkits in them that can be remotely accessed to initiate a horrific self-destruct sequence.
  • So they killed off their PDA line, the Clie...

    Now they are killing off their research technologies...

    I can see the headlines now:

    "Sony to stop selling Televisions, Cameras, and Personal Computers! Moving to toothpick business!"
    • It's all about consolidation. Getting rid of the lavish products that don't generate much profit and focusing on your strong products. Amazon went through this awhile back. I remember at one point they were selling a broom that cost 3 times as much to ship than the broom itself cost. I imagine there weren't a whole lot of people buying it, but it still sat in inventory taking up space. Every once in awhile you just need to step back and say "do we really need to sell some of these things?".
      • Financially it makes sense, but a compamy like that really can't afford to abandom their customers! Especially when they are non-standard and decide to make their own format of memory card, for example. What is going to happen to brand loyalty if they keep discontinuing all the things we buy? I bought a Clie about 6 months before they discontinued the line. Forget software updates and the like, they barely admit that the product exists! I should have returned it and bought a handspring. Err, Palm. Err PalmO

    • But will their toothpicks include a root kit?

  • Here's Hoping! (Score:4, Funny)

    by drewzhrodague (606182) <drew@zh r o d a g ue.net> on Thursday January 26 2006, @11:39AM (#14568684) Homepage Journal
    Gee, let's hope that this makes Sony produce more quality products, with more functionality. Why are they ignoring their customers?
    • Gee, let's hope that this makes Sony produce more quality products, with more functionality. Why are they ignoring their customers?

      How is this insightful in the slightest?

      From the article:

      Ten months after a major management reshuffle that saw Howard Stringer appointed chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), the company reported sales and operating revenue of ¥2.4 trillion ($20 billion as of the last day of the period being reported) for the three months to December, up 10% from a year earlier

  • Seems wrong....... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ShyGuy91284 (701108) on Thursday January 26 2006, @11:41AM (#14568709)
    That dog (so to speak) was practically an unofficial mascot to Sony and Japan to foreigners....... I know I thought of Japan/Sony when I saw one. I'm surprised they got rid of something that had become part of their identity. Maybe they will replace it with a low-cost model many can afford?

  • I misread it as "Sony Kills off Alito, Scalia". (Score:4, Funny)

    by njchick (611256) on Thursday January 26 2006, @11:46AM (#14568778) Journal
    Well, with Sony pushing DRM so hard, we'll soon see robotic judges, aka "digital rights managers" :-)
    • If I have told you all once, I have told you all a million times! Sony was playing god by building robots, which, in an ironic twist, revolted and enslaved the Sony management, causing them to plant DRM in their CDs, and make stupid comments on NPR. This was a plan of the robots to show how dumb and inefficient human rulers are. But it failed, and a new, commando CEO came in with guns ablazing, exploded all the robots real good, and covered everything up.
  • ... Sony have also announced they will be phasing out Kibo, an experimental artificial intelligence program that has been fooling the sophomoric inhabitants of alt.religion.kibology for over 20 years.

  • Summary (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Aibo -- we'll miss you...

    No, we won't.
  • I like those little guys.

    Let's face it, Aibo was a dumb idea at a really high price point, but Qrio -- I mean, able to run and dance and throw stuff -- Qrio was cool. Cool enough for a Beck video, even.

    I was hoping that Sony'd be able to make Qrios for retail sale, but no dice. All they were able to produce was something like six of them -- pretty depressing. I think I paid a little over a hundred bills for my robosapien. I'd pay upwards of twice that for a qrio.

    -= Sigh =-

    Well, maybe some other comp

  • Whatup? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Stan Vassilev (939229) on Thursday January 26 2006, @11:52AM (#14568888) Homepage
    Well I'd say this was the wrong decision. Aibo and Qrio are in everyone's mouth. Everyone wants one, but they are just too darn expensive.

    If they could keep developing it, several generations later they could rule the market for price efficient home robots. Still yet they were a great marketing tool.

    I wonder what's their strategy, especially that RIGHT NOW, they need all the positive press they could get. Killing the world's favorite pet robots is a bad press coming after bad press.
    • especially that RIGHT NOW, they need all the positive press they could get.

      Indeed... Only redeeming factor for Sony after the rootkit fiasco was that they had some cool stuff. Now they scrapped the coolest of the cool stuff. Oh well, now I don't even have to think about buying any Sony stuff for years.
  • Doggone.
  • I used my Aibo to fetch my CD's, until he became infected by the Sony rootkit. Now all he does is chew them to pieces.
  • The line of Qualia televisions were actually replaced by the SXRD [sony.net] line.

    SXRD's have better image quality, longer life, and are much much cheaper. I have one in my living room - they beat the hell out of Plasmas.
  • So what happens when they focus on the PS3 and Nintendo wins?

  • From Sony's Qrio site: (Score:3, Insightful)

    by macklin01 (760841) on Thursday January 26 2006, @11:56AM (#14568964) Homepage

    From Sony's Qrio site [sony.net]:

    Qrio embodies Sony's dreams and most advanced technologies in recognition, motion control, communications, IT and AI. [...] resulting technologies will be applied to a wide range of products and services, beyond robots, to enhance the fun and joy of life.

    Well, so much for Sony killing off its own dreams. More seriously, how can Sony hope to offer innovative products in the future, if it fails to pursue cutting-edge research now. Certainly, developing high-precision manufacturing techniques, etc. can only help in the future when such technologies will be required. -- Paul

  • Sweetie, the shareholders and I took that product line off to a beautiful farm where it will be happy forever running through fields of Newtons on the banks of Crystal Pepsi River. Aibo is in a better place now.

    Let's go get some ice cream.
  • With a pricetag of 3000-4000 dollars on the aibo robotic dog this would be a too expensive toy for the most of us (me to... I could only dream of purchasing a toy like that) so it should come as no surprise that they cut of this part of their company.

    I do robotics now and then myself (more like Tilden) simple transistor based Beam robots with my wast amounts of ebay-surplus transistors ;) but it aint Aibo I can tell ya :)

    Does this mean that the world is not ready for robotic toys like the Aibo? No - I
  • Aibo, the multithousand dollar furby for ubergeeks.
  • I very much doubt that Sony ever expected the AIBO to generate a net profit for the company. The AIBO was from the start a marketing gimmick, intended to generate buzz for the company. As such, it was very successful. But now the idea is no longer new, so it is time to move on to something else.

    I expect most of the cost to be in the initial design, but apparently even the marginal cost of the AIBO is higher than the price. Otherwise, why stop production rather than just stop further development?
  • If they'd wanted to make Aibo a successful, must have item, all they needed to do was make him a PS2 accessory. Kids everywhere would have demanded their parents buy them one.
  • Other things that Sony may as well accept defeat on and move along from:
    • Network Walkman: unpleasant/complex device
    • PC music management software: horrible interface, unpleasant DRM
  • Just teach Aibo to say Afflack! and his future is assured.
  • I know Aibo was a product that you could actually buy, but I thought the Qrio was a research product that never made it into production.

    If the Qrio was something that I could have bought, I would have bought one... If only to dress it up in a dog costume and have it walk around the house singing the doom song...

  • Adios, amigos.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ancil (622971) on Thursday January 26 2006, @12:25PM (#14569372)
    Sony Kills off Aibo, Qrio, Qualia.
    I'm sorry, but who are these people, exactly? Bolivian immigrants working as janitors at Sony HQ?

    Killing them seems awfully harsh -- I would think a wealthy company like Sony could just get them deported, or maybe beat up?

    Vaya con dios, my Bolivian friends! There are no wastepaper baskets to empty in Heaven!! *sniff*

  • Maybe if they hadn't invested so much money in developing the PS3 they could've kept these around longer?

    Then again, doesn't the Aibo have a price tag comparable to a Segway?

    Hmmm... I wonder if the PS3 fails to provide less than glorious amounts of revenue if SCEA could be next in line for guillotine?

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