Will Sony Launch Online Store to Compete with Apple iTunes?

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November 20, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team

Kazuo Hirai, executive vice-president for networked products and services of Sony has a variety of thoughts and ideas about how he envisions an online store like iTunes, but for Sony products. Hirai said that the company wouldn’t only sell consumers digital music, movies and books for Sony products, it would also try to connect users with each other. This social networking element to an iTunes like store for Sony would definitely set them apart from Apple, but will people use it as often? During the interview at Sony headquarters in Tokyo, Hirai said that he intends for the store to be tentatively dubbed Sony Online Service. For the last few years the company has repeatedly mentioned that plan to create a link between Sony’s electronic products and digital content. An example of this connection would be to provide consumers with Sony’s recording label, TV shows, and movies from Sony Pictures Entertainment, all in one digital ecommerce storefront.

The new online service should start to slowly roll out to accommodate different Sony products early next year for consumers to browse and purchase. What Sony wants to do is have consumers register for their online service right when they pull their purchase out of the box. This sales technique would lock consumers into using the service in a very similar way that Apple does with its iTunes Store. Sony had numerous big failures from sales of proprietary devices or formats that they have introduced over the last fifteen years. Products like BetaMax, MiniDisc, or their MemoryStick have not become mainstream as competing products have pushed them out of the market. Consumers never seem to give Sony the kind of love they have shown Apple for the past 5 years so it will be very interesting to see how well Sony does in launching this store and if it will survive.