Pandora Has Compettion

[BackAssward]

Someone asked Sony why they didn't make it open in an interview today, the guy smirked, laughed and said that was not part of sonys business model.

Good.

... who uses proprietary media and who routinely shits on its customers

Sounds about right. I hope anyone who buys Sony remembers their root kit, and Thomas Hesse's comment (President of Sony Music Entertainment's Global Digital Business, US Sales, and Corporate Strategy): "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"

You could say the same about Syphilis.

(oh and there are other examples, like how the removal tool fucked up your machine even more)

 

[christo930]

Given it's specs, and it comes from Sony... who uses proprietary media and who routinely shits on its customers: I say it is as much "Compettion" as you are at a spelling contest

Edit: Oh, and the crappy looking, shallow, non-dpad d-pad.

You know, there was time when the quality of a keyboard mattered. The keyboards that used to come with IBM and Compaq, Apple and even Dell had the feel of a real typewriter with good feedback and even a click. Now the KB are so mushy, you don't even notice these damn typos.

Chris

 

[Goity]

This isn't speaking for the music department, but Sony Computer Entertainment is generally, from my experience, a pretty decent company (apart from that little fiasco they had with Craig...). As a company they're usually far more decent than the other two shady buggers.

As for "proprietary media"? Bullshit. The PS3, for one, accepts any type of flash card, uses standard, replaceable hard drives, and accepts all major disc mediums. And the new PSP is even moving away from UMD (which was the only remotely acceptable medium at the time anyway) to flash memory, so even that isn't a problem anymore.

 

[renegadechic]

it is a problem because they are using their own smart media cards rather than regular SD cards

 

[Wootson]

The new PSP model is also aimed towards the commercial market. There is money to be made there, and that's what large companies like Sony want. They're not in it for charity. And if they don't want Open Source/Homebrew stuff on their machine, thats their choice. I don't really care, I'll just buy something else.

Besides, I have a PSP here, don't use it that much at all to be honest. I have a few decent games on the system, but for homebrew I'd rather get out my GP2X (if that still existed in the original form, because I'm now going to build a GP2X Arcade Stick). The system says that it has everything on board regarding todays most wanted functions, but some things are just plain awful. The web browser is such a donkey!

The new PSP is just a test project for them to see how digital content is taken by the masses. If it succeeds they will implement it for the PSP2, if it doesn't then they will do something else.

 

[ashdjones]

Someone asked Sony why they didn't make it open in an interview today, the guy smirked, laughed and said that was not part of sonys business model.

Good.

Guess they can't dodge import tax with a hand-held...

Have you got a link to this interview?

 

[Asmo]

Sony Computer Entertainment is generally, from my experience, a pretty decent company

I tell you what, they throw a good party. I must have half a room full of the freebies they gave me since the original Playstation launch.
Lots of all-day party events. The booze never stopped flowing & the catering was always magnificent.

 

[b._.o._.b]

My Android phone (with keyboard!) is more competition to the Pandora than the PSP. The phone gets more and more emulators (NES, Genesis, Scummvm) that play pretty good and it has some great commercial games.
Still Pandora will be fantastic because of the gaming input and better specs.

 

[Monk]

Someone asked Sony why they didn't make it open in an interview today, the guy smirked, laughed and said that was not part of sonys business model.

Good.

Guess they can't dodge import tax with a hand-held...

Have you got a link to this interview?

That might be fun, but generally speaking I can't get enough distance between SONY and myself. That their business model doesn't include "Open"... well, Open is a darned sight more interesting. I get fed up of companies telling me what I can and can't do with something I bought - I like to buy stuff outright whenever possible, and own the rights to do whatever I want with it in so far as it is practical.

 

[Goity]

I take it you don't own anything then?

Sony even allows you to put linux on the PS3. They aren't some kind of closed hitler.

 

[Ravnos]

Sony even allows you to put linux on the PS3. They aren't some kind of closed hitler.

And a fat lot of good it does you without access to the graphics hardware. They've gone just far enough to give the image of supporting such activities, but haven't actually done anything useful with it.

 

[Consequence_9]

I take it you don't own anything then?

Sony even allows you to put linux on the PS3. They aren't some kind of closed hitler.

Sure, but without full access to the hardware, severely gimping it's usefulness/potential. The point is that they shouldn't be able to dictate whether or not you put linux on it (or do with it in general) in the first place.

 

[cbox]

480 x 272 or whatever the PSP resolution is sucks ass and I'd never get anything that low res.

 

[Consequence_9]

480 x 272 or whatever the PSP resolution is sucks ass and I'd never get anything that low res.

yep, couple that with the worst ghosting i've ever seen and/or the whole interlacing issue & you've got yourself a psp. Hopefully they'll get the screen right on the fourth attempt :rolleyes:

 

[Exophase]

Why would the PSP Go be any more threatening than the existing PSP models? No UMD drive, smaller screen, and much higher price... oooh, scary.

 

[warmi]

I makes no difference ... a console like Pandora will sell perhaps 4-5 K units altogether ... there is a good chance Sony sends out more units per quarter just to replace broken ones still under warranty.

 

[Exophase]

I makes no difference ... a console like Pandora will sell perhaps 4-5 K units altogether ... there is a good chance Sony sends out more units per quarter just to replace broken ones still on warranty.

I think the demand for Pandora far exceeds that, unless it comes out too late. Nothing Sony level of course, but could probably do at least 20,000 over its lifetime if the supply can be met.

Just a vague idea though, I can't really substantiate it, aside from that demand for the first batch seems to have outstripped supply.

 

[Mjlink]

I find this surprising, but maybe things will change for Sony eventually.

Have a gander:

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSH...427/169423/?P=1

Being a casualty of Sony's ATRAC via minidisc myself hindsight is always 20/20.


Ciao

Link

 

[Squidge]

As for "proprietary media"? Bullshit. The PS3, for one, accepts any type of flash card, uses standard, replaceable hard drives, and accepts all major disc mediums. And the new PSP is even moving away from UMD (which was the only remotely acceptable medium at the time anyway) to flash memory, so even that isn't a problem anymore.
Are you saying Sony are going to allow people to use flash memory other than Memory Stick? I think thats what people are talking about. The PSP only allowed Sony UMD and Sony Memory Stick, so people are assuming (quite rightly) than its successor is going to MS also.

 

[aatu]

What RajTakhar said earlier is precisely the situation here. People, you do realize there's a massive amount of potential customers waiting patiently to see whether this device can deliver what it has promised? Every new machine coming to market takes their attention away from the Pandora. And sometimes that lost attention means also lost customers.

(In fact, it would be quite interesting to know how many of those people saying "PSP2 etc. won't affect Pandora's sales" are pre-orderers, and how many are waiting for the reviews and second round to play it safe.)

Furthermore, not all customers can afford to buy every different kind of equipment there is in the market (mp3 player, desktop computer, netbook, gaming device, phone, etc.). They choose the best one(s), which caters MOST of their needs for a reasonable price. So it doesn't matter if Pandora itself doesn't intend to compete with MS, Sony and Nintendo. If they're even in the same type of market, they're all competing from the same customers.

Let me elaborate: The device doesn't need to be spot-on-perfect for the customer for him/her to buy it. That means the "niche market"-argument (which many of you were thinking) doesn't apply to every customer.

And remember, OpenPandora Ltd can't afford to choose its customers. I thought this would have been clear by now, but they're not a charity organization. And they actually need the future sales to keep the business going. And after that, maybe even come up with Pandora2 in a few years.