Who knows...maybe their Sony Music promo with McDonalds will pose a serious launch strategy. After all, those folks buying Sony songs from Mickey D's need something to store their media on...
Sony Debuts 20 Gigabyte Walkman to Silence IPod
Sony Corp. said today it is launching a Walkman digital music player capable of storing far more songs than Apple Computer Inc.'s market-leading iPod, while also undercutting iPod's price.
The Japanese consumer electronics maker said the 20-gigabyte device, which is its second hard-disk drive gadget aimed at unseating Apple and can store 13,000 songs, will be launched on July 10 in Japan, by mid-August in the United States and in September in Europe.
Dubbed the Network Walkman NW-HD1, it marks a major upgrade to the legendary Walkman brand and the announcement comes on the 25th anniversary of the introduction of Sony's groundbreaking portable music player -- July 1, 1979.
It is expected to sell for around 53,000 yen ($487) in Japan and less than $400 in the United States, Sony said, undercutting Apple's 40-gigabyte device, which sells for $499 and can hold up to 10,000 songs.
Sony said it packed more songs in a smaller storage space by using advanced compression technology.
"Sony has consistently changed the economics of the portable music player business," said Richard Dougherty, lead analyst with Envisioneering Group of Seaford, New York. "But Apple has trumped it for the past 30 months."
Because Sony uses the same 20-gigabyte hard drives across many of its product lines, including computers, it stands to benefit from massive price discounts for buying these devices in volume.
"Prices could fall by as much as 50 percent in the next 12-18 months," Dougherty said.
Sony declined to comment on sales targets. It has sold 340 million units of the Walkman over the past 25 years, including CD- and MD-based models.
Sony Debuts 20 Gigabyte Walkman to Silence IPod
Sony Corp. said today it is launching a Walkman digital music player capable of storing far more songs than Apple Computer Inc.'s market-leading iPod, while also undercutting iPod's price.
The Japanese consumer electronics maker said the 20-gigabyte device, which is its second hard-disk drive gadget aimed at unseating Apple and can store 13,000 songs, will be launched on July 10 in Japan, by mid-August in the United States and in September in Europe.
Dubbed the Network Walkman NW-HD1, it marks a major upgrade to the legendary Walkman brand and the announcement comes on the 25th anniversary of the introduction of Sony's groundbreaking portable music player -- July 1, 1979.
It is expected to sell for around 53,000 yen ($487) in Japan and less than $400 in the United States, Sony said, undercutting Apple's 40-gigabyte device, which sells for $499 and can hold up to 10,000 songs.
Sony said it packed more songs in a smaller storage space by using advanced compression technology.
"Sony has consistently changed the economics of the portable music player business," said Richard Dougherty, lead analyst with Envisioneering Group of Seaford, New York. "But Apple has trumped it for the past 30 months."
Because Sony uses the same 20-gigabyte hard drives across many of its product lines, including computers, it stands to benefit from massive price discounts for buying these devices in volume.
"Prices could fall by as much as 50 percent in the next 12-18 months," Dougherty said.
Sony declined to comment on sales targets. It has sold 340 million units of the Walkman over the past 25 years, including CD- and MD-based models.