Sony ss-ar1

[lostinla]

20% ouch. Seems a bit harsh. I'd jump in before 50%. TADs I assume don't devalue like that.
At the end of the day it's about what they can do. And they do it well.

[cmalak]

Originally Posted by ehoove

I totally concur. It is harder to drag up the perception of lower end product, than to create a newer Premium Brand. I would think the ego's of the Sony Board had something to do with it, and it was a decision to try and drag the Sony brand back to it's previous stature. It is extremely difficult to be all things to all people. IMHO
Regards,
Jim

Jim...this initiative is such small potatoes for Sony in the context of the firm's revenue and earnings that it is unlikely to have reached top management let alone the board. The investment in branding a premium product in the high-end audio arena is quite small compared to Sony's advertising budget that it is likely some relatively mid-level manager who is making these asinine decisions. If you think about product development cost on the SS AR-1s, maybe it is in the $1MM range. And then you think about them creating marketing buzz for a premium brand in all the major audiophile rags over a period of 6 months and have a few demo units at various shows, maybe that's another few hundred thousand dollars. That is big potatoes for a small high-end audio company. But for Sony that is not even the cost of a single ad at the superbowl or some other major event. So it's peanuts in the context of Sony. I could be off in my numbers but not by much I don't think. In any case, that is neither here nor there. As you say, we all agree that they should have pursued a premium branded strategy

[Volks]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Jim...this initiative is such small potatoes for Sony in the context of the firm's revenue and earnings that it is unlikely to have reached top management let alone the board. The investment in branding a premium product in the high-end audio arena is quite small compared to Sony's advertising budget that it is likely some relatively mid-level manager who is making these asinine decisions. If you think about product development cost on the SS AR-1s, maybe it is in the $1MM range. And then you think about them creating marketing buzz for a premium brand in all the major audiophile rags over a period of 6 months and have a few demo units at various shows, maybe that's another few hundred thousand dollars. That is big potatoes for a small high-end audio company. But for Sony that is not even the cost of a single ad at the superbowl or some other major event. So it's peanuts in the context of Sony. I could be off in my numbers but not by much I don't think. In any case, that is neither here nor there. As you say, we all agree that they should have pursued a premium branded strategy

I agree 100% ..............Sony would probably be much more concerned say about their PS3 sales or developing a PS4 then a niche product like the SS AR-1's

[adhesiv]

Originally Posted by lostinla

20% ouch. Seems a bit harsh. I'd jump in before 50%. TADs I assume don't devalue like that.
At the end of the day it's about what they can do. And they do it well.

I was simply going off a comment above. Of course I believe they're worth far more than that relative to the industry...however simple market rules apply here. The resale value, should you choose to resell, would be very poor.

[rnrmf1971]

For a company trying to turn a profit and turn itself around, I can't see why they would try to re-invent a new brand when what they seem to want is renewed respect and market leadership. Perhaps products like this are a start in changing peoples' perception of Sony.

[piolaxo]

I agree completely with the marketing comments. I love the speaker too and
it has some very interesting background with respect to the wood and how
it only comes from trees from certain area to be particular stiff because
of the temperature swings, but if you have the same brand showing this:



and then this:



with response up to 50KHz for less than a hundred, then it gives a false sense of trust. Which one represents the brand more?