One of my favorite things to wake up to in the morning is a good fud piece, or clickbait as it were. Written by Sneha Shah from Insider Monkey, the headline for her piece reads as such:
Billionaire Gabelli Says Sony Corp (SNE) Should Split
So what did Gabelli actually say? Before we get into that, here is what Shah wrote as a setup for the billionaire, which is designed to give his opinion more weight.
In April of this year, a series of earthquakes struck Japan, causing Sony’s image sensor factories to be down for months. On top of needing to repair the affected facilities, Sony’s ability to output sensors was also dramatically reduced, resulting in lost business that lead to a spectacular 48% drop in profits for the quarter. Now nearly 7 months later, Sony is once again bullish on their highly lucrative division.
One of the key factors in Sony’s Q2 2016 revenue taking an 86% dip is lower than expected Xperia smartphone sales. Having already cut smartphone sales forecasts twice in 2016, Sony is once again lowering their guidance by 11% for the year and expect to only ship 17 million units. Looking at the numbers, things don’t look all that rosy for Sony’s mobile ambitions though sales were up by 400k compared to the previous quarter. However, looking at the numbers against the same in 2015, which was never spectacular to begin with, it’s hard to walk away with a bright view on the division.
As John Gruber often notes, Bluetooth’s motto should be:
Next year it will work great
and I’m starting to think it’s time for us to adopt a similar stance on Sony’s earning reports, be it for next quarter or next calendar year. According to the AP, Sony’s
net profit plunged 86 percent in the last quarter from a year earlier, the company said Tuesday, as its profitability was hammered by a strong yen and lagging smartphone sales.
Though the headline might first appear shocking, it’s technically not news. In 2015, Sony had announced plans to spin off their camera division, much like they’ve spun off their home entertainment and sound business. The reason for the spinoffs? Efficiency.
The reorganization is meant in part to speed up the decision-making process and clarify accountability. The parent company will effectively become a holding company that focuses on such functions as formulating strategies for the entire group and creating new businesses.
Sad news for those who like to use Sony’s ‘Live on YouTube’ app on Android to stream live video to YouTube. Come October 28th, Sony is officially discontinuing the app and those who update to Nougat will find the app incompatible. Sony didn’t give a reason why, but the likely answer is that the YouTube app can finally live stream on its own. Google was caught sleeping when it came to live streaming from mobile devices with Periscope and now Facebook owning a majority of that space – all which led to a rise of 3rd party apps to handle the task. With Google’s YouTube app now doing basically what Sony’s app and others have been doing, there’s little reason for Sony to invest further money in an app that’s redundant.
Those wanting the option to play 4K Blu-ray movies from Sony will have to wait till Spring 2017 when they’ll launch their first Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the UBP-X1000ES. Friend of the site, Richard Lawler, writing for Engadget:
Sony says it will be exclusively available through custom installers at first. The player is ready for “virtually any optical disk format” as well as Atmos and DTS:X audio tracks.
With the Xperia XZ and Xperia X Compact starting to make their ways throughout the world, Sony is beginning to clear some inventory room by making previous models more affordable. In India, Sony is slashing prices for the Xperia X Dual and the well received Xperia Z5 Premium Dual that while still pricy, will be more attainable to the masses. So what are the new prices?
PS4 Pro is going to offer plenty of benefits for HDTV owners like all games running at 1080p and improved framerates. That means that if you’ve got an HDTV, all you need to do is plug in PS4 Pro and use any HDMI cable you have laying around and you’ll immediately get the added benefits. Now if you have a 4K TV, the PS4 Pro can offer a whole lot more but you’ll need a premium HDMI cable.
It’s looking like Apple Pay will be expanding to Japan in the future, thanks to a partnership with Sony. While Apple Pay has been available in a handful of countries, Japan till now has been excluded due to their contactless payment systems which incorporate Sony’s FeliCa technology, something which isn’t supported on iPhone.
I’ve never been shy about how lacking I find Sony’s ability to put together a compelling video. After all, Sony is the parent company of of PlayStation which has the pulse of the youth and owner of a small film studio called Sony Pictures. Surely they can put together something better than their maligned Xperia XA ad where a couple were engaged on a bus – but apparently not.
Couldn’t watch the Rio Olympics in 4K because you either didn’t own a 4K TV yet or your cable provider didn’t offer a 4K broadcast? Not to worry because if it’s left up to Sony, Panasonic, and Japanese broadcaster NHK, the 2020 Olympics will be aired in 8K.
I never thought I’d be writing about Trump on this site but alas, here I am. Resident clown and shameful US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, in a recent gathering, decided that he needed to add another demographic to his list of pissed off nations and people. So who was in his crosshairs this time? None other than the entire nation of Japan and Sony to make things a bit more personal.
Nearly a week into its release, No Man’s Sky, the AAA indie title from Hello Games, continues to divide critics and gamers. Is the game a completely unique vision that gives you a calming, yet fleeting, lonely sense within the universe or is it just boring? No matter where you fall on that, you can’t deny the team’s grand ambition which has brought with it near-endless planets and creatures to explore.
But is it what you thought it be? One fan made video that’s been popping up all over my feed helps put the game and its hype into context, and it’s hilarious.
Gran Turismo Sport is expected to race across the finish line (puns like this means I’m a professional, right?) on November 15th. In adhering to their tight schedule in order to meet the ever-important holiday shopping season, Polyphony Digital has already decided to cancel the game’s public beta, but with just three months left, can the developers deliver another 30% in production?
