Sony Mobile CEO on Technology vs. Experience

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Hiroki Totoki, Sony Mobile CEO and President has addressed quite a few topics about the future of the division of impending doom rumors. Topics have included

Now Totoki is talking about perhaps one of the most fundamental and least understood aspects of a product, technology vs. experience. In some ways, Android is the new PC where most manufacturers are solely focused on specs and believe that the higher the number, the better the device.

Of course, that’s a fallacy where in reality, specs are only part of the over all product and a truly good user experience comes from how everything works together and the final output of the said thing. As an example, the iPhone 6 or even 5S have continued to use Sony’s 8-megapixel sensors (though the 6 has much improved lens with larger pixels) where Sony opted for a 20-megapixel sensor. Even with such a huge megapixel discrepancy, Sony was unable to compete with iPhone.

After the jump, Mr. Totoki talks about a better user experience.

 

 In the morning when people wake up, they look at their smartphone. When they go to bed, they look at their smartphone. Smartphones are part of life today and people now have high demands. They prefer a good quality of camera, a good quality of screen, and also good picture and audio quality. These are basic demands that people want now — they want high quality. And it’s in this area that we try to install new technology to give a better user experience, and a better feeling for the customers.

Yes, the competition has become severe. The smartphone device consists of a battery and a screen and chips. These are the main parts of a smartphone, and people can easily make them now. But it is the user experience that is not the same. Even if the device is the same, the user experience is different. And this is a very important point. People are not buying a smartphone because of the device and the way it looks — they are buying it because of the experience.

Of course we are using a very good quality of image sensor that our colleagues at Sony created. That’s the craftsmanship in technology that we have to install to provide the best user experience. That sort of craftsmanship in technology is very important — it’s key to becoming more than just a mere smartphone. It takes the quality higher, improves the brand image, and the user experience. 

As Totoki rightfully points out, Sony has no shortage of high quality components on their hands. Form manufacturing beautiful televisions, to compelling gaming consoles, and superb image sensors, Sony is one of the few companies that has all the hardware prowess under one roof. In fact, this is something that Apple has been looking to achieve for a long time.

Where things begin to fall apart for Sony is how it’s all put together. As I mentioned above, Apple is able to take an older Sony sensor and turn out better images than Sony itself is capable of doing with much newer sensors. If Sony wants to thrive, it must figure out a better way to strategically use its hardware background  to make compelling devices that not only delight consumers today, but that offer something for tomorrow. It’s been a long time since Sony was able to anticipate where consumers would want to go (excluding PlayStation 4 which has been a sensation because of Sony being able to find the balance between power, performance, and price). Hopefully under Totoki, Sony is able to extend its vision a bit further down the road and anticipate what’s next and align that with their product strategy.

Discuss:

What do you think about Totoki’s comments?

[Via Arabian Business]