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If you could ask Sony...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil Askey
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Exactamundo, Zip.

Sometimes because we users frequent the forums so... well... so frequently, we can make the mistake of thinking that our own microcosm represents the overall buying patterns of the market at large. But it's not usually the case.

On your point of 'testing the waters', a good example by Sony can be seen in the Screenblast software for compiling and editing video:
http://www.screenblast.com/main/home/index.jsp

Initially, this software was licensed by Sony from a small but versatile company called Sonic Foundry. It's a very nice but inexpensive package, and yet it does some very advanced things for software of its type. Sony was saved the development costs and initially only rebadged the software. Later on, they bought the desktop software assets of Sonic Foundry, which included the video and music related software assets. It was a great move for that small company, and it was a great move for Sony who could now expand the concepts and tools. It seems to be achieving success for them.

On the Pro, I totally agree. I've been saying that the Pro was not intended for "us" --- at least not initially. When it is, we'll see prices come down as well as a lot more supply.
ZipperZ said:
yes and no.

each product line brings residual profits in other areas like
accessories where profit points are highest. It would be wisest for
a manufacturer who has not been known to be any type of leader in
any market segment to test the waters with an already produced
product. Prime example is Honda with their 'Passport' SUV. It was a
rebadged Isuzu Trooper.
If and thats a big if.(total pie in the sky) If Sony was to bring
out a dslr it would be best for them to do so with a dslr cam like
the Contax N. It keeps the CZ cooperation and Sony spends no money
on R&D. Perfect way to test the waters. And, knowing theres very
little profitibility in ultra high end products this solution will
satisfy some. Most likely very little. Then it will get shelved and
it will become one of the 'also rans'

You really have to think about who Sony targeted when they decided
to make the 1-gig MS-pro. At its cost factor is someone who just
bought a U60 or a P-series cam gonna buy a 1-gig stick? NO! only
people with really deep pockets will dig deep for the 1gig. Does
anyone here on this site have one??? probably not. and yah i know,
cost is still too high right now.
Click to expand...
--

Ulysses
 
Or any other media support besides MS + MS Pro. The obvious answer to this would be a big NO. It would hamper greatly MS stick sales or at least bring the price of it down. Sony will not change anything which will cost it money. It will increase their camera market share but will the profits from that increase outweigh the lost of profits from MS media sales. I think they make more profit on MS sales than on the actual camera. So, why did I bother to ask? You never know.
Phil Askey said:
Hi guys,

Just out of interest if you had a chance to ask Sony one question
what would it be? (Nothing rude please!)

--
Phil Askey
Editor / Owner, dpreview.com
Click to expand...
 
Can't you put them in a Lexar Jump Drive or something like that? Maybe keep 'em on your keychain? heheheheh...

The other day I was talking to a friend and recommending a camera to him. I mentioned to him that he could get memory in sizes of 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1GB, etc. So he asked with total sincerity, "So then what do you do with the 32MB memory card that came with your camera?" I just looked at him and stared for a moment. Several ideas crossed my mind in that moment:
  • Use it as a tiny shoehorn to put on a stubborn shoe
  • Grind it up into tiny little bacon bits and eat it in your salad
  • Integrate it creatively into your child's Legoland constructions
  • Use the contact side as a mustache comb
I could go on like this all day. But I won't.
Greg Gebhardt said:
Give us something well ahead of the competition. F1.7 lens, 10x
zoom, etc. Oh and instead of giving us a 32mb MS strick, put the
money in the camera. My drawer is full of these useless sticks.
Click to expand...
--

Ulysses
 
Ulysses said:
The other day I was talking to a friend and recommending a camera
to him. I mentioned to him that he could get memory in sizes of 32,
64, 128, 256, 512, 1GB, etc. So he asked with total sincerity, "So
then what do you do with the 32MB memory card that came with your
camera?" I just looked at him and stared for a moment. Several
ideas crossed my mind in that moment:
  • Use it as a tiny shoehorn to put on a stubborn shoe
  • Grind it up into tiny little bacon bits and eat it in your salad
  • Integrate it creatively into your child's Legoland constructions
  • Use the contact side as a mustache comb
I could go on like this all day. But I won't.
Greg Gebhardt said:
Give us something well ahead of the competition. F1.7 lens, 10x
zoom, etc. Oh and instead of giving us a 32mb MS strick, put the
money in the camera. My drawer is full of these useless sticks.
Click to expand...
--

Ulysses
Click to expand...
--Heck 32 is not all that bad lol, my digicam came with a 4 talking about a joke. Like Greg says put it in the camera's cost because these stick are useless.

Mike
 
From what I see, Sony has been activitly expanding the popularity of the MS. All these memory cards are important to the bottom line of all these companies. Olympus/Fujifilm w/Smartmedia & xD, Kodac w/MultiMedia, Panasonic w/Secure Digital, I'm not sure whose behind the CF cards, But they all want their cards to dominate the market. The competition should force the price of memory cards down. Plus I really think there is a market for all of these memory cards. A few short years ago it would of been impossible to ever think that so much storage could be in such a small package. My hats off to all these manufactures for developing such great technology. Like everyone else, I just want to see large capacity storage prices come down. That will happen in time.

I think it is foolish to stop someone from buying a camera they want based solely on the memory card being used. I think with higher end cameras we will see the continual use of multiple memory sockets.

I can still remember when buying a 100 or 200 megabyte hard drive cost you a small fortune. So no matter what memory card you have to use, the technology for them has really advanced, and I for one, is very thankful.
Justme said:
Phil Askey said:
Hi guys,

Just out of interest if you had a chance to ask Sony one question
what would it be? (Nothing rude please!)

--
Phil Askey
Editor / Owner, dpreview.com
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
C700uz, E100rs, V1, i950
http://www.pbase.com/gene
Life is just a stage and we all have enough pictures to proof it!
 
I agreed with you on the "rebadged" of DSLR. But "rebadging" won't help them win over Canon and Nikon.

About SUV, it is a huge, growing market in the US, and is expanding to Europe as well, so it makes sense for Honda to grab a piece of it. DSLR, on the other hand, is more for semi-pro and professional photographers.

The only reason I think make sense for Sony to go DSLR is for the image of the company and show its leadership in digital cam market at a whole, but I still don't think profitability out of it would make sense.
ZipperZ said:
LanceD said:
sale of Sony digital cam is much smaller than their gaming devices,
and a high-end 717 is only 1/10 (or even smaller) of their digital
cam market. So putting out a DSLR won't do much for their profit.
Actually, it would be the otherway around b/c of the R&D money put
into it. Also, the price difference b/w a DSLR body and a 717 is
only 1/3, so I don't think it's justifiable from the business point
of view.
Click to expand...
yes and no.

each product line brings residual profits in other areas like
accessories where profit points are highest. It would be wisest for
a manufacturer who has not been known to be any type of leader in
any market segment to test the waters with an already produced
product. Prime example is Honda with their 'Passport' SUV. It was a
rebadged Isuzu Trooper.
If and thats a big if.(total pie in the sky) If Sony was to bring
out a dslr it would be best for them to do so with a dslr cam like
the Contax N. It keeps the CZ cooperation and Sony spends no money
on R&D. Perfect way to test the waters. And, knowing theres very
little profitibility in ultra high end products this solution will
satisfy some. Most likely very little. Then it will get shelved and
it will become one of the 'also rans'

You really have to think about who Sony targeted when they decided
to make the 1-gig MS-pro. At its cost factor is someone who just
bought a U60 or a P-series cam gonna buy a 1-gig stick? NO! only
people with really deep pockets will dig deep for the 1gig. Does
anyone here on this site have one??? probably not. and yah i know,
cost is still too high right now.
ZipperZ said:
ZipperZ said:
Im sure this thread is really all about what SOny can do to keep or
gain more profibility. Gain or regain their market share.
With Sony being a technology leader where most look onto them to
see what they do next i really dont think Sony needs to follow.
(off my soapbox now)
Phil Askey said:
Hi guys,

Just out of interest if you had a chance to ask Sony one question
what would it be? (Nothing rude please!)

--
Phil Askey
Editor / Owner, dpreview.com
Click to expand...
--
Posting these days requires either dedication or medication...
cheers
Zip:P

Click to expand...
--
Lance
Click to expand...
--
Posting these days requires either dedication or medication...
cheers
Zip:P

Click to expand...
--
Lance
 
No, Mike. You don't want to roll the cost of the stick into your camera purchase. It is much better for the consumer if they drop a "useless" stick into the box with the camera. This then allows you to go online elsewhere and find a cheap price for your Stick, thus saving you a lot of money rather than pay the Sony premium prices.
Tanglefoot1947 said:
--Heck 32 is not all that bad lol, my digicam came with a 4 talking
about a joke. Like Greg says put it in the camera's cost because
these stick are useless.
Click to expand...
--

Ulysses
 
Ulysses, I agree with you on this post and found your last one very funny. But if one uses the 32mb stick as a back-up and uses it when needed, then it is not useless. Remember, film is sold in different number of exposures. Anyways, people using cameras in lower resolution because of maybe just shooting for web pages, then the 32mb stick is a good size.
Ulysses said:
Tanglefoot1947 said:
--Heck 32 is not all that bad lol, my digicam came with a 4 talking
about a joke. Like Greg says put it in the camera's cost because
these stick are useless.
Click to expand...
--

Ulysses
Click to expand...
--
C700uz, E100rs, V1, i950
http://www.pbase.com/gene
Life is just a stage and we all have enough pictures to proof it!
 
They don't need to demonstrate leadership in the dSLR market until the dSLR market matures a bit more. Right now, it is a very small segment of the market. And remember, Sony already dominates the market as a whole. Everyone is NOT running out to buy a dSLR, and Sony doesn't need to produce a dSLR to get those few people back.

All they need to do is what they've done starting with the F707: Produce a prosumer that is 'good enough' to make a potential dSLR buyer stop and think for a bit. Get enough comparisons of their prosumer camera to current dSLR cameras, and they've already won! That happened with the F707. When it became the best 5MP camera available, it was compared in some tests to the available dSLR cameras. Not a fair test, but that is STILL saying something.

If the next camera comes in at 8MP, as everyone suspects, and if it's even half-decent, then Sony won't need to worry about producing a dSLR for quite a while.
LanceD said:
The only reason I think make sense for Sony to go DSLR is for the
image of the company and show its leadership in digital cam market
at a whole, but I still don't think profitability out of it would make sense.
Click to expand...
--

Ulysses
 
Gene Miller said:
Ulysses, I agree with you on this post and found your last one very
funny. But if one uses the 32mb stick as a back-up and uses it when
needed, then it is not useless.
Click to expand...
Actually, jokes aside, it's not at all useless to me. I use the smaller sticks for data transfer. I will transfer data and executables from my PC to stick, and then bring it over to friends' PCs and transfer either via USB or a PC Card adapter. Works for me. Saves me from having to buy extra portable storage for now.

--

Ulysses
 
Ulysses said:
The other day I was talking to a friend and recommending a camera
to him. I mentioned to him that he could get memory in sizes of 32,
64, 128, 256, 512, 1GB, etc. So he asked with total sincerity, "So
then what do you do with the 32MB memory card that came with your
camera?" I just looked at him and stared for a moment. Several
ideas crossed my mind in that moment:
  • Use it as a tiny shoehorn to put on a stubborn shoe
  • Grind it up into tiny little bacon bits and eat it in your salad
  • Integrate it creatively into your child's Legoland constructions
  • Use the contact side as a mustache comb
I could go on like this all day. But I won't.
Greg Gebhardt said:
Give us something well ahead of the competition. F1.7 lens, 10x
zoom, etc. Oh and instead of giving us a 32mb MS strick, put the
money in the camera. My drawer is full of these useless sticks.
Click to expand...
--

Ulysses
Click to expand...
--
Greg Gebhardt Nikon D1 & D1x. Sony 717, V1! , Epson 2200 & PS7
Jacksonville, Florida
 
So I can start saving my money now. I may have to take a kid or two out of college. So I need to know ASAP.....LOL

Steve
CTzen said:
Phil Askey said:
Just out of interest if you had a chance to ask Sony one question
what would it be? (Nothing rude please!)
Click to expand...
please note this is a tricky question, in a sence answer should
include details about sensor type, size and resolution, lenses, RAW
format, DSLR etc etc etc :)
CTzen said:
--
Phil Askey
Editor / Owner, dpreview.com
Click to expand...
--
Slava
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/slo2k

'If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an 'artless art' growing out of the Unconscious.'
 
it's all changing so fast :) Even if we have 5 years roadmap shown us today, I belive it might be totally different 3-4 years from now :)
Steve Cavigliano said:
So I can start saving my money now. I may have to take a kid or
two out of college. So I need to know ASAP.....LOL
Steve
Click to expand...
--
Slava
 
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