   #copyright

Sony

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Companies

 Sony Corporation
 ソニー株式会社
       Type       Public ( TYO: 6758 ; NYSE: SNE)
     Founded      May 7, 1946 (adopted current name in 1958) by Masaru Ibuka and
                  Akio Morita
   Headquarters   Japan Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan
    Key people    Howard Stringer: Chairman and CEO;
                  Ryoji Chubachi: President and Electronics CEO
                  Ken Kutaragi: President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment
     Industry     Consumer electronics, electronics, financial services & media
     Products     Consumers electronics (audio visual & gaming)
                  Computer hardware
                  Financial services
                  Film, television & music
                  Semiconductors
                  others
     Revenue      $63,980 million USD ( 2006)
 Operating income $1,604 million USD (2006)
    Net income    $1,058 million USD (2006)
    Employees     158,500 (March 31, 2006)
   Subsidiaries   Sony Electronics
                  Sony Computer Entertainment
                  Sony Ericsson (50%)
                  Sony Pictures Entertainment
                  Sony BMG (50%)
                  Sony Marketing
                  Sony Life
                  Sony Assurance
                  Sony Bank
                  others
      Slogan      Like No Other
     Website      www.sony.net

   Sony Corporation ( Japanese:ソニー株式会社, Sonī Kabushiki-gaisha^ ?) is a
   Japanese multinational corporation and one of the world's largest media
   conglomerates with revenue of $68.39 billion (as of 2006). It is
   headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo ( 35°37'25.86"N, 139°43'55.39"E). It
   is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video,
   communications, video games, and information technology products for
   the consumer and professional markets.

   Sony Corporation is an operating-holding company. It is the electronics
   business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is
   engaged in business through its 6 operating segments — electronics,
   music, games, motion pictures, financial services and other. These make
   Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the
   world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (
   Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony
   Computer Entertainment, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Sony Financial
   Holdings.

   Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $67 billion
   for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, and it employs 158,100 people
   worldwide. Sony's consolidated sales in the U.S. for the fiscal year
   ended March 31, 2005 were $18.4 billion. As a semiconductor maker, Sony
   is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. Its slogan
   is Sony. Like no other.

   Sony has reported a loss of 94% of its profits for the fiscal second
   quarter of 2006, and has lost roughly 40% of its value from 2001 to
   2006.

Notable Sony products, technologies and proprietary formats

   Sony has historically been notable for creating its own in-house
   standards for new recording and storage technologies instead of
   adopting those of other manufacturers and standards bodies. The most
   infamous of these was the videotape format war of the early 1980s, when
   Sony marketed its Betamax system for video cassette recorders against
   the VHS format developed by JVC. In the end, VHS gained critical mass
   in the marketplace and became the worldwide standard for consumer VCRs
   and Sony adopted the format. Since then, Sony has continued to
   introduce its own versions of storage technologies, with varying
   success. A * denotes a proprietary format.

   Early Sony products included reel-to-reel tape recorders and transistor
   radios.

   In 1968 Sony introduced its Trinitron brand name for its line of
   aperture grille cathode ray tube televisions and later computer
   monitors. Trinitron displays are still produced.

   Sony launched the Betamax videocassette recording format in 1975. The
   Walkman brand was introduced in 1979.

   1982 saw the launch of Sony's Betacam videotape family and the
   collaborative Compact Disc format. In 1983 Sony introduced 90mm micro
   floppy diskettes (better known as 3.5-inch floppy disks), which it had
   developed at a time when there were 4" floppy disks and a lot of
   variations from different companies to replace the then on-going 5.25"
   floppy disks. Sony had great success and the format became dominant;
   3.5" floppy disks gradually became obsolete as they were replaced by
   more current media formats. In 1984 Sony launched the Discman series
   which extended their Walkman brand to portable CD products. In 1985
   Sony launched their Handycam products and the Video8 format. Video8
   became popular in the consumer camcorder market.

   In the early 1990s two high-density optical storage standards were
   being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by
   Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density disc (SD),
   supported by Toshiba and many others. Philips and Sony abandoned their
   MMCD format and agreed upon Toshiba's SD format with two modifications
   based on MMCD technology.

   Sony introducted the MiniDisc* format in 1992. Since the introduction
   of the format, Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression
   technologies under the ATRAC brand, against more widely used formats
   like MP3. Until late 2004, Sony's Network Walkman line of digital
   portable music players did not support the MP3 de facto standard
   natively, although the software SonicStage provided with them would
   convert MP3 files into the ATRAC or ATRAC3 formats.

   In 1993, Sony challenged the industry standard Dolby Digital 5.1
   surround sound format with its newer and more advanced proprietary
   motion picture digital audio format called SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital
   Sound). This format employed eight channels (7.1) of audio opposed to
   just six used in Dolby Digital 5.1 at the time. Unlike Dolby Digital,
   SDDS utilized a method of backup by having mirrored arrays of bits on
   both sides of the film which acted as a measure of reliability in case
   the film was partially damaged. Ultimately, SDDS has been vastly
   overshadowed by the preferred DTS ( Digital Theatre System) and Dolby
   Digital standards in the motion picture industry. SDDS was solely
   developed for use in the theatre circuit; Sony never intended to
   develop a home theatre version of SDDS.

   Sony and Philips jointly developed the Sony-Philips digital interface
   format ( S/PDIF) and the high-fidelity audio system SACD. The latter
   has since been entrenched in a format war with DVD-Audio. At present,
   neither has gained a major foothold with the general public. CDs are
   preferred by consumers because of their ubiquitous presence in consumer
   devices.

   In 1994 Sony launched its PlayStation (later PS one). This successful
   console was succeeded by the PlayStation 2 in 2000, itself succeeded by
   the PlayStation 3 in 2006. The PlayStation brand was extended to the
   portable games market in 2004 by the PlayStation Portable*. Sony
   developed the Universal Media Disc (UMD) optical disc medium for use on
   the PlayStation Portable.

   Sony is currently touting its Blu-ray Disc optical disc format, which
   is likely to compete with Toshiba's HD DVD. As of quarter one of 2006,
   Blu-ray Disc has the backing of every major motion picture studio
   except Universal.

Management

   On March 7, 2005, Sony Corp. announced that Nobuyuki Idei will step
   down as Chairman and Group CEO and will be replaced by British/American
   Sir Howard Stringer, current Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation of
   America, Corporate Executive Officer, Vice Chairman and COO Sony
   Entertainment Business Group. Sony's decision to replace Idei with the
   British Howard Stringer will mark the first time that a foreigner will
   run a major Japanese electronics firm. Sony Corp. also announced on the
   same date that current president, Kunitake Ando, will step down and be
   replaced by Ryoji Chubachi.

Mergers and acquisitions

     * 1988 — CBS Records Group from CBS. It was renamed " Sony Music
       Entertainment".
     * 1989 — Columbia Pictures Entertainment from Coca Cola for US$3.4
       billion. It was subsequently renamed " Sony Pictures Entertainment"
       in 1991.
     * 1998 — Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group a 50-50 merger of
       Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures
     * 2001 — Sony Ericsson a 50:50 joint venture of Sony Corporation and
       Ericsson AB, was established in October.
     * 2002 — Aiwa Corporation in October.
     * 2004 — S-LCD Corporation a 51:49( Samsung Electronics: 50% plus 1
       share, Sony: 50% minus 1 share) joint venture of Sony Corporation
       and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, was established in April.
     * 2004 — On July 20, 2004, the EU approved a 50-50 merger between
       Sony Music Entertainment and BMG. The new company was named Sony
       BMG Music Entertainment and, as of 2005, holds a 21.5% share in the
       global music market, behind worldwide leader Universal Music Group,
       which has a 25.5% share.
     * 2005 — On April 8, 2005, The MGM Company ( Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and
       United Artists) was acquired by a Sony-led consortium ( Providence
       Equity Partners 29%, Texas Pacific Group 21%, Sony 20%, Comcast
       20%, DLJ Merchant Banking Partners 7% and Quadrangle Group 3%)
       finalised the deal to purchase the film studio for about $4.8
       Billion, including $2bn in debts from Armenian-American Kirk
       Kerkorian.
     * 2006 — Sony NEC Optiarc Inc a 55:45 (Sony 55%, NEC 45%) joint
       venture of Sony Corporation and NEC Corporation, was established in
       April.
     * 2006 —Acquired digital Single Lens Reflex ( Digital SLR) cameras
       section from Konica Minolta
     * 2006 —Acquired Grouper Networks - a Sausalito based startup company
       that created a user generated video sharing platform and p2p
       technology for $65M.

Controversies

Fictitious movie reviewer

   In July 2000, a marketing executive working for Sony Corporation
   created a fictitious film critic, David Manning, who gave consistently
   good reviews for releases from Sony subsidiary Columbia Pictures, which
   generally received poor reviews amongst real critics.

   A parody in 2004 was made involving Garfield the movie (which
   ironically had mostly all negative reviews), which has David Manning
   giving it two thumbs up because he will like any movie. However, it was
   made by 20th Century Fox, not Columbia Pictures.

Digital rights management

   In October 2005, it was revealed by Mark Russinovich of Sysinternals
   that Sony BMG Music Entertainment's music CDs had installed a rootkit
   on the user's computer as a DRM measure (called Extended Copy
   Protection by its creator, British company First 4 Internet), which was
   extremely difficult to detect or to remove. This constitutes a crime in
   many countries, and poses a major security risk to affected users, as
   well as a small drain on computer system resources. The uninstaller
   Sony initially provided removed the rootkit, but in turn installed a
   dial-home program that posed an even greater security risk — a fact
   that drew further criticism of Sony's actions. Sony eventually provided
   an actual uninstaller that removed all of Sony's DRM program from the
   user's computer. Sony BMG is facing several class action lawsuits
   regarding this matter.

Advertisements

   To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the PlayStation (PS) gaming
   console in Italy, Sony released an ad depicting a man smiling towards
   the camera and wearing on his head a crown of thorns with button
   symbols (Triangle, O, X, Square). At the bottom, the copy read as "Ten
   Years of Passion". This outraged the Vatican as well as many local
   Catholics, prompting comments such as "Sony went too far" and "Vatican
   excommunicates Sony". After the incident, the campaign was quickly
   discontinued.

   Sony also admitted in late 2005 to hiring graffiti artists to spray
   paint advertisements for their PlayStation Portable game system in
   seven major U.S. cities including New York City, Philadelphia, and San
   Francisco. The mayor of Philadelphia has filed a cease and desist order
   and may file a criminal complaint. According to Sony, they are paying
   businesses and building owners for the right to graffiti their walls.
   As of early January 2006, Sony has no plans to keep or withdraw them.

   In July 2006, Sony released a Dutch advertising campaign featuring a
   white model dressed entirely in white and a black model garbed in
   black. The first ad featured the white model clutching the face of the
   black model. The words "White is coming" headlined one of the ads. The
   ad has been viewed as racist by critics. A Sony spokesperson responded
   that the ad does not have a racist message, saying that it was only
   trying to depict the contrast between the black PSP model and the new
   ceramic white PSP. Other pictures of the ad campaign include the black
   model overpowering the white model.

bleem!

   In 1999 Sony took legal action against bleem!, Sony started these law
   suits after they launched their policy to prevent any developer
   shipping software that runs PlayStation software.

   In April 1999, a California court denied Sony's case against Bleem that
   would keep the company from publishing its PlayStation emulator for the
   Dreamcast. Bleem sued Sony for allegedly using its influence to halt
   the company's ability to successfully sell its emulator. Bleemcast was
   a software program that would allow some PlayStation One games to be
   played on the Sega Dreamcast console. Although bleem won all of its
   court cases the time and money lost during the cases caused the company
   to close down in November of 2001.

Legal

   In 2002, Sony Computer Entertainment America, marketer of the popular
   PlayStation game consoles, was sued by Immersion Corp. of San Jose,
   California which claimed that Sony's PlayStation "Dual Shock"
   controllers infringed on Immersion's patents. In 2004, a federal jury
   agreed with Immersion, awarding the company US$82 million in damages. A
   U.S. district court judge ruled on the matter in March, 2005 and not
   only agreed with the federal jury's ruling but also added another
   US$8.7 million in damages. This is likely the reason that the
   controller for the PlayStation 3 has no rumble feature. Microsoft Corp.
   was also sued for its Xbox controller, however, unlike Sony, they
   settled out of court. Washington Post: Pay Judgment Or Game Over, Sony
   Warned

Batteries

   On August 14, 2006, Sony and Dell admitted to major flaws in several
   Sony batteries that could result in the battery overheating and
   catching fire. As a result they recalled over 4.1 million laptop
   batteries in the largest computer-related recall to that point in
   history. The cost of this recall is being shared between Dell and Sony.
   Dell also confirmed that one of its laptops caught fire in Illinois.
   This recall also prompted Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and
   Industry to order the companies to investigate the troubles with the
   batteries. The ministry said they must report on their findings and
   draw up a plan to prevent future problems by the end of August, or face
   a fine under Japan's consumer safety laws.

   Ten days later on August 24, 2006, Apple Computer recalled 1.8 million
   Sony built batteries after receiving nine reports of batteries
   overheating, including two customers who suffered minor burns, and
   additional reports of property damage.

   On September 19, 2006, Toshiba announced it was recalling 340 000 Sony
   laptop batteries. This recall, however, is not related to the recalls
   by Apple and Dell, as the batteries are known to cause the laptops to
   sometimes run out of power. No injuries or other accidents have been
   reported, according to Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori.

   On September 23, 2006, Sony announced its investigation of a Lenovo
   ThinkPad T43 laptop overheated and caught fire in Los Angeles
   International Airport on September 16, an incident that was confirmed
   by Lenovo. On September 28, 2006, Lenovo and IBM made the global recall
   of 526 000 laptop batteries.

   On September 28, 2006, Sony announced a global battery exchange program
   in response to growing consumer concerns.

   On October 2, 2006, Hewlett-Packard (HP) determined that it is not
   necessary for HP to join the global battery replacement program.

   On October 3, 2006, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Sony was aware of
   faults in its notebook PC batteries in December 2005 but failed to
   fully study the problem.

   On October 16, 2006, Fujitsu announced it was recalling 278,000 Sony
   laptop batteries. It was also reported that Fujitsu, Toshiba, and
   Hitachi may seek compensation from Sony over the battery recalls.

Lik-Sang and Grey Goods Importation

   In August of 2005, Sony engaged in a legal tussle with Hong Kong
   import/export firm Lik-Sang, a distributor of Asian electronics.
   Lik-Sang had sold imported PSPs to UK customers before the UK release
   date, which Sony alleged was a breach of their trademark rights.
   Lik-Sang continued shipping PSPs, claiming Hong Kong's laws allow an
   item to be traded freely once it appears in a market anywhere in the
   world. On October 23, 2006, the High Court in London ruled the
   shipments of PSPs were indeed in breach of Sony's rights and that it
   was illegal for the firm to import the Japanese version of PlayStation
   3's into Europe ahead of its official release in March 2007. The
   following day, Lik-Sang posted a message on their website claiming they
   had been forced out of business due to Sony's legal action. Sony
   responded in a statement saying that Lik-Sang had not contested the
   case, thus incurring no legal fees, and had not paid any damages or
   costs to Sony.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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