NY Times: Sony Exec Frustrated That Apple "Seized The Initiative" With iTMS

T he New York Times has published a very interesting look at Sonyis recent exhibition of new products called Dream World. This yearis show was held in Paris, and Sony was there to pimp itself as a convergence company to the European market.

The NY Times article talks about many different aspects of Sonyis business model, including the dual hardware and entertainment/content-provider aspects of the company. Mentioned was Sonyis newly announced music download service set to launch shortly in Japan. According to the New York Times, Andrew Lack, CEO of Sony Music, said he was frustrated that Apple had "seized the initiative" with the iTMS. From the article:

Other projects are more ambitious. Sonyis music, film and electronics divisions are jointly developing an online delivery system for songs that will rival Apple Computeris service, iTunes Music Store. The chief executive of Sony Music, Andrew Lack, said the service, known as Sony Music Box, would be an important test of the supposed benefits of convergence.

Mr. Lack, here to promote Sony Music, confessed frustration that Appleis chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, had seized the initiative in addressing the proliferation of illegally downloaded music. Sony, he said, should have set the pace, given its interest in protecting copyrights and its history of accessible audio devices like the Walkman.

Sonyis Music Box will appear in the United States next spring. Meanwhile, the company, like its four major rivals, has licensed music to iTunes, which charges users 99 cents to download each song.

Thereis a lot more on Sony in the full article, and we recommend it as a very interesting read (free registration required). Other aspects of the company covered include recent price drops in CD pricing from Universal, and other aspects of the music industry.