Compromise or follow the trend? Why did Sony launch Android TV smart TV?

Recently, it was reported that Sony may launch HD and 4K Android TV smart TVs in February next year due to the impact of Google TV released by Google at the beginning of the year. The reason why Sony, a veteran in consumer digital products, "made a move" in the field of smart TVs so late can be said to be a passive outcome of internal and external troubles.

Multiple terminals have failed repeatedly and the focus of work has shifted

Recently, Sony released its financial forecast for the next three years, and the statement showed that by March 31, 2015, its mobile communications business is expected to have sales revenue of 1.35 trillion yen and an operating loss of 204 billion yen, a loss rate of 15.1%. In addition to the mobile communications business, Sony's game and network service business and audio and video business will continue to make profits.

The decline of the traditional PC industry has become an established fact. In early February this year, Sony sold its VAIO PC business. At the same time, with the rise of Apple, Samsung and other companies in the field of smart mobile devices and the continuous expansion of their market share, Sony's smart mobile devices only occupy a small share of the market. In response to this, in September, Sony announced that it would focus on the gaming business and strive to build an entertainment service core, and Sony's business focus began to change dramatically.

Like Samsung and LG of Japan and South Korea, Sony has also been focusing on developing OLED TVs in recent years, which are high-cost, high-priced and difficult to popularize. However, the market's final response is that the era of OLED TVs has not yet arrived. In response, Sony had to announce the suspension of commercial development of OLED TV products and shift its focus to 4K ultra-high-definition LCD TV business, hoping that this will help the company regain profitability.

More importantly, in February this year, Sony said it would spin off its TV production business and operate it as an independent department.

Sony is unwilling to sink into the indirect influence of competitors

This year, whether it is the smartphone giant Apple, the original Android camp Google, or the e-commerce industry No. 1 Amazon, they have all entered the Internet TV industry through their own different product forms. It can be seen that living room entertainment is becoming the next important market for corporate giants to compete for after PC and mobile terminals.

Of course, as one of Sony’s largest markets, the rapid development of my country’s OTT industry has also stimulated Sony’s attention to the smart TV industry to a certain extent.

It can be said that China is not only the market with the largest demand for Internet TV services, but also the market with the fastest introduction of Internet TV products. In the past two years, both traditional TV manufacturers and emerging Internet giants have begun to focus on the Internet TV industry.

More importantly, the current mainstream trend of the Internet TV industry is low-priced hardware and paid services. For Sony, which has always relied on hardware production for profit, whether it can lower its profile in the face of the emerging TV industry and find another way out is also an important part of its transformation.

Sony's Dafa era ends, market demand becomes the final guide

Although Samsung, LG, and Sony, which are Japanese and Korean companies, have always believed that OLED technology is the future of the TV industry, the current market feedback shows that low-priced smart TVs with many applications are the mainstream of the market. This is in sharp contrast to Sony, which has a strong hardware manufacturing gene but almost no software ecosystem construction.

In addition, another major mistake of Sony was that it ignored the impact of the Internet on the entire economy. For a long time, Japanese companies represented by Sony have been complacent about their international competitiveness and innovative spirit in manufacturing and engineering technology, and missed the wave of Internet revolution that swept the world in the last century.

The current market reality is that both new and old users and new and old manufacturers have begun to fully embrace the Internet. Product development is constantly integrating with the Internet, and marketing is fully using Internet thinking; at the same time, companies and products that are isolated from the Internet are gradually being rejected and forgotten by consumers.

Sony, which has gradually returned to the consumer's attention with the new PS4 game console, has launched Android TV smart TVs with the help of internal and external factors, which is of great significance. However, if it wants to regain its former glory, it can only say that it needs to make more adjustments to keep pace with the times.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.