Sony Seeking to Beat Apple in Revolutionizing Television

howard stringerMuch has been made of Steve Jobs' revelation in his authorized biography about having "cracked" how to develop a revolutionary interface for an integrated television set, a disclosure that has led to claims of Apple working to launch a Siri-enabled television set by 2013.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at how seriously Sony is taking the Apple threat, sharing comments from Sony CEO Howard Stringer about the strategies the company is seeking to employ, beginning with a "platform" spanning all the way from mobile devices to television sets.

Sony has a "four screen" strategy of offering network services on mobile phones, tablet computers, personal computers and TV sets. "I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs," Mr. Stringer said. "It's finished, and it's launching now."

Stringer also claims that Sony has some ideas about a "different kind of TV set" that it has been working on as it seeks to beat Apple to the punch.

Mr. Stringer declined to discuss details of what Sony has on the drawing board, but said, "There's a tremendous amount of R&D going into a different kind of TV set." He added that he has "no doubt" Apple's late leader Steve Jobs also was working on changing the traditional TV set.

"That's what we're all looking for," said Mr. Stringer. "We can't continue selling TV sets [the way we have been]. Every TV set we all make loses money."

Stringer touches on several other topics in his interview, including an admission that Sony failed to realize how difficult it would be to get content providers to sign on to provide 3-D programming, a reluctance that has significantly slowed adoption of the technology. Stringer also briefly mentions the iPhone and his belief that other platforms will match the iOS experience, but that those platforms will need to adopt the seamless experience Apple has championed for its "well organized" devices and ecosystem.

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
WWDC 2025 Banner

Apple Announces WWDC 2025 Schedule, Including Keynote Time

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
macOS 16 visionOS Inspired Feature 1

macOS 16: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7:31 am PDT by
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's annual developer and software-oriented event, is less than three weeks away. We haven't heard a great deal about macOS 16 ahead of its announcement this year, so we could be in for some major surprises when June 9 rolls around. Here's what we know so far about the next major update to Apple's Mac operating system. macOS 16 Name? Every year ...
Apple Intelligence General Feature

Report: Apple's Next-Gen Version of Siri Is 'On Par' With ChatGPT

Monday May 19, 2025 9:00 am PDT by
Apple has big plans to improve Siri over the next few years, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett report. Some Apple executives are now reportedly pushing to turn Siri into a true ChatGPT competitor. A next-generation, chatbot version of Siri has reportedly made significant progress during testing over the past six months; some executives allegedly now see it as "on par" with recent...

Top Rated Comments

Tiger8 Avatar
177 months ago
Yeah, Sony, a company producing TV's for over 30 years will surely lose to Apple Television sales that are just starting out.

Never say never. Look at what happened to Nokia... and RIM... and Microsoft Phone...
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tigres Avatar
177 months ago
New product ID

Sony, KDL-XBR6-49a8972bv6KTP99z58v

Always keeping their numbers easy and simple to remember.

:rolleyes:
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
*LTD* Avatar
177 months ago
Yeah, Sony, a company producing TV's for over 30 years will surely lose to Apple Television sales that are just starting out.
Yeah, Nokia, a company producing phones for 30 years will surely lose to Apple iPhone sales that are just starting out.

You can fill that "Nokia" space in with any number of the old guard names. Motorola, Microsoft, Palm, you name it. Do the same for tablets.

Sanjay Jha in 2007: "But is Apple ready for us?" Yeah, they nearly killed your business. Ask Ballmer what Apple did to Windows Mobile. Apple left a path of destruction in their wake. As for tablets, Apple blew the pre-2010 market into oblivion. We had tablets in the past. Look at tablets post January 2010.

Never underestimate Apple in a new market. Anyone that puts User Experience first and has the ecosystem to back it up has a more than even chance of shaking things up.

Sony makes the hardware. So what. Sony is Panasonic is LG is Samsung. You can barely tell them apart. It's all just specs. 120 Hz MontionFlow vs. the other guy's 120hz MotionCinemaX+. LOL. One is slightly smoother than the other, but the other does SD content better, but this one has internet connectivity, yes and so does the other, but this guy's remote is easier, etc. Same ****. Six of one, a half dozen of the other.

This is about software, UI, and access to content. When it comes to content distribution and ways to consume that content, no one does it better than Apple.

The "Apple implementation" usually tends to change the game, especially when it's about synergy between hardware+software.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sixsixj Avatar
177 months ago
Drew Carey's hair looks awful.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
arn Avatar
177 months ago
Yeah, Sony, a company producing TV's for over 30 years will surely lose to Apple Television sales that are just starting out.
Palm CEO in 2006 regarding Apple iPhone:

"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,'' he said. "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in.''
https://www.macrumors.com/2006/11/22/palm-ceo-on-apple-iphone-threat/

3 years after the iPhone was released, Palm was basically finished. Sold to HP.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OllyW Avatar
177 months ago
Good luck with that.

Who, Apple or Sony?

We are still waiting to see anything that's revolutionary from any company in regards to the TV market.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)