Sony lost the plot

ONE DAY, Sony lost the plot. It had the designers, the material, the loyal fan-base and Microsoft as main rivals. How could it lose?

But punters meandering away from the E3 games fest this week can't help but think that somehow, somewhere, a burst of insanity has seized the company.

The only likely scenario can be one like this: Imagine a Sony boardroom last June. Welsh wizard, Howard Stringer, is in the chair for the first time.

(ACT ONE)
The Sony boardroom. SONY EXECS seated. STRINGER pacing.

STRINGER. OK, moving onto the PS3… what is the easiest way for us to lose the ball on this one?
SONY EXEC ONE. Price, if we make it too expensive then Nintendo and Microsoft will screw us to the wall. Most people will not pay more than what the XBOX360 costs.
STRINGER. Great, anything else?
SONY EXEC TWO. We could delay it for ages until box Microsoft has established itself in the market. That would make it harder for us to claw back our lucrative European and American base.
STRINGER. Not bad, need a few more here.

SONY EXEC THREE. Well it is a bit tricky but we could make two versions of the PS3. One will have all the wi-fi gubbins and other bits that people want and will make it different from the XBOX360 and the Revolution. But make this version even more expensive than the base unit.
STRINGER. Nice thinking. It would also split our marketing budget between two similar products and the punters wouldn't know what we were selling.
SONY EXEC ONE. We could also make a really low key launch of all the details while our competitors are all over the games press like a hot rash.
STRINGER. Interesting how do we do that? There will be a lot of people interested in the PS3.

SONY EXEC ONE. We could go to E3, lock the demonstration models in a glass box and be evasive about crucial things like launch dates.
STRINGER. I like it… we will do all those things.
Sony Exec Two: Are you nuts?
STRINGER. No I am Welsh, we have a long history of being shafted by everyone from the Romans, the Normans, the English and the European Union but singing beautifully while it is done. I have no intention of winning against Microsoft or Nintendo. Now about what is happening with that Blu-Ray thingee. How are negotiations going with the HD-DVD crowd? µ