Sony builds great products, and never follows up well. They poison their own name.
Walkman: the original portable media player. They improved battery life, they improved sound, they captured the high-end of the market and inspired competitors... but they could never reduce price while keeping sufficient quality to differentiate a genuine Walkman from a 60% cheaper competitor. Did they keep the high end? Sure, but they also produced crap indistinguishable from their competitors at the low end...
Repeat for CD players.
Repeat for DVD players.
Repeat for the VAIO laptops. Remember when a VAIO was always a high-performance ultra-portable? Now it means everything they do in computers.
Walkman: the original portable media player. They improved battery life, they improved sound, they captured the high-end of the market and inspired competitors... but they could never reduce price while keeping sufficient quality to differentiate a genuine Walkman from a 60% cheaper competitor. Did they keep the high end? Sure, but they also produced crap indistinguishable from their competitors at the low end...
Repeat for CD players.
Repeat for DVD players.
Repeat for the VAIO laptops. Remember when a VAIO was always a high-performance ultra-portable? Now it means everything they do in computers.