Three years ago Sony was a heap. Negative cash flow, no new products, stagnant sales and a new PlayStation that was facing delay after frustrating delay. Morale was low at the former consumer electronics giant and arch nemesis Samsung had passed it in both sales, profitability and moxie.
What a difference three years made. In Tuesday’s International Herald Tribune, under the helm of their British CEO, Howard Stringer, Sony is back in the game and ready for round 2 with Samsung.
Fight!
30 Comments
Samsung should buy Sony.
Yeah, we all know how Samsung isn’t underperforming these days don’t draft dodger?!
Three years ago I still would’ve purchased Sony over Shitsung.
But John…. there are not enough of you doing that…. more Shitsungs are being sold than Shitties worldwide so oh well.
JohnT, is there anything you like about Korea? You seem like you are miserable. Why are you here?
I think he got suckered into a contract and is teaching in the Korean armpit known as the shigol… How can he hate everything about Korea unless he was in the shigol? Hell, even I hate everything about Korea in the shigol…
Korea is wonderful place, but if you don’t like it for some reason JohnT, go elsewhere. However, that would be running because the failure to find contentment lies within, grasshopper.
Maybe you should drink more JohnT .
I’m sure you can find soju in the shigol.
What if JohnT isn’t in Korea, can he still complain about it?
Just asking…
#4 cmm
He’s pissed because the Hongdae girls won’t go out with him no matter how drunk they are.
Of course he could, but that would be even weirder.
“Fight!”
You didn’t write ‘Frighing!’…You must be anti-Korean.
or… ~ pphighting!
Actually, it was more of an allusion to Street Fighter… you know… you have Ken and Ryu on opposite ends of the screen, round 2, fight!
I think the concept of a Korean-American is more offensive to him than anything else. He displays an intense fixation on the word “draft-dodger” when addressing gyopos, like a certain someone did with the word “expat”.
Or maybe he got screwed over by his friends during Vietnam War drafts. I dunno.
Well… like I said before… If we were under 18 and our parents brought us, then how can Korean Americans be draft dodgers?
However, if a KA came here before he was drafted and on his own accord at or after 18, than someone would have a point… but I don’t think most Koreans in the U.S. came here under those circumstances.
JohnT,
There’s nothing wrong with criticism - as long as you pick your moments. But when everyone of your comments in every single thread is a swipe at something about this country, then people label you as miserable and tune you out. Christ, we could be talking about the sunny weather in Seoul, and you’ll be there to take another swipe at something real or imagined.
“Well… like I said before… If we were under 18 and our parents brought us, then how can Korean Americans be draft dodgers?”
That’s a question you should ask the Korean government because they’ve been known in the past to draft Korean-Americans who were here visiting their grandparents.
hahaha… just don’t stay longer than 90 days… that whole thing is triggered by overstaying your tourist visa I think…
How about the stories of Korean mothers delivering babies in America so their sons will be able to avoid the draft (among other benefits)? Now that would be draft dodging, but it’s not like the kid had any say so in the matter…
i think SONY will stay. They won the new DVD format war. BetaMax being its mother.
Too late for Samsung to buy SONY now.
But, what do I know?
Argument of age 18 is moot. The only way out of Korea at that age, actually there are ways.
1/ You were a KAIST scientist. Excused by the govt.
2/ You won 4th place in a certain sporting event, or 3rd place in a certain sporting event. The joke on this is, the rules are made up by the govt as the games play along, LIVE.
3/ somehow, all the immediate males progeny of your family died. You’re the only one left.
4/ You left Korea via a myulchi/saewoo boat.
Have fun in Korea, JohnT.
As a child, I actually liked the shigol. Back when I was little, they were looking at Seoulites like me as if I was from a different country. In a way it was. I never had to shit in a hut and have a private moment with methane and flies, flies, flies, and more flies in Seoul. Actually, unlike the Japanese, Koreans in Seoul keep public restrooms at a level competitive to New York City, so flies are not really that new.
Awesome, I totally derailed this post from #4 on.
Anyway… Go Sahmsung!
@17 there’s nothing special about being a KAIST scientist… being a technical researcher with a Masters or Ph.D. degree (from anywhere) and working for specific companies (most chaebols) or gov’t research agencies can spare you most of your service, though I can’t remember the difference between the benefits of a M.S. and Ph.D. Medical doctors get similar breaks too, but they have to work in undesirable locations for a few years, like islands an hour from the mainland. And, regardless, you still have to shave your head and bunk up with the boys for a month of basic training and are considered ROK property for a certain number of years.
wangkon,
instead of writing your little 8 line summary of the article, which didn’t say ANYTHING different than the article itself, why didn’t you just leave it at the headline? many people who visit marmot likely read the IHT, especially if it is Korea related and comes up on their RSS, so what’s the point in regurgitating an article that you link to, unless you provide something unique.
mjw,
That’s a fair thing to request, however, the reason why I don’t in some cases is that sometimes an article says everything that needs to be said and better value can be offered by merely summarizing it. I don’t know about other people, but I appreciate reading a well summarized paragraph to get the gist of an article, and judging if it’s of sufficient interest for me to click the link and reading more.
Furthermore, I’d also provide more analysis if… how shall I say? If the nature of the comments for subjects of this matter were more analytical and thought provoking. But since they are generally not, I tend not to be motivated in doing so. Hence, for someone like yourself, looking for that kind of better-in-depth reporting, instead of directly asking for it, it would be more helpful for me if you’d spark it with better comments.
This leads to my next point. Links to articles are provided not just for the sake of providing them, but also for discussion purposes with like minded people. Yes, it is true that others may get RSS feeds, but through the MH, people with Korean-centric opinions gather to discuss and sometimes that’s the entire point as well.
This, along with a few other comments in other posts lead me to believe that other people are craving Korean economy postings with more meat to the bones. I’d be happy to oblige if I only knew there was greater demand. At this point, these requests seem more isolated than a general trend. We shall see.
@ Wangkon re #21:
“If the nature of the comments for subjects of this matter were more analytical and thought provoking. But since they are generally not, I tend not to be motivated in doing so”
Do what you feel like. I like your analysis of tech issues, so please feel free. But even if you don’t write anything other than a link, I think it’s good to provide information because it can spark a good conversation in a place like this.
Well, so many companies are out there not besides Samsung and Sony. But koreans are still making the Japanese rich. Koreans continue to buy Sony, Olympus, Nikon, Canon, and Casio Digital cameras, Sony playstation and Nintendo Wii Consoles, Shiseido cosmetics, Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infinti, Honda/Acura, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Ricoh, Fujifilm and open Japanese restaurants because korea’s brand value is low. Koreans need to focus on making Korean food popular and making korea more well known around the world. koreans are always buying japanese cars then korean cars and buying japanese motorcycles.
If korean food became popular like how samsung is known around the world, it will really help boost korea’s image a lot! Korean beer such as Cass, OB and Hite are good. But I don’t have a problem with Samsung or LG. I just have a problem with korean people complaing about japan, see japan as a rival or complain about history issues, or complaining about the stupid islands, but at the same time, koreans buy Japanese cars, goods, etc. koreans need to brand their country more. koreans have lots of energy to demonstrate all the time. with that energy, koreans can promote korea more instead of wasting negative energy.
apologist.
Well… like I said before… If we were under 18 and our parents brought us, then how can Korean Americans be draft dodgers?
However, if a KA came here before he was drafted and on his own accord at or after 18, than someone would have a point… but I don’t think most Koreans in the U.S. came here under those circumstances.
That’s right, I was busy dodging draft at the age of five. Being called “draft-dodger”…yeah, that really hurts my feelings. JohnT is a moron and I’ve learned to tune him out long ago.
Sales figures aside, one has to remember that Samsung still depends on foreign(read Japanese) technology for its products, while Sony has a formidable technology base that is just recently getting its act together. That and the fact that Samsung hasn’t ridden itself of the old chaebol ways, unlike Sony which is transforming itself under Stringer.
Put it simply, the electronics industry is a long distance race, and Samsung is acting like a sprinter while Sony is the marathon runner. So in the long run, I see Sony winning the race.
1/ You were a KAIST scientist. Excused by the govt.
2/ You won 4th place in a certain sporting event, or 3rd place in a certain sporting event. The joke on this is, the rules are made up by the govt as the games play along, LIVE.
3/ somehow, all the immediate males progeny of your family died. You’re the only one left.
4/ You left Korea via a myulchi/saewoo boat
wjk,
You forgot three more points;
5/ You are the son of a chaebol, politician, lawyer, doctor, etc. and got sent to the US so you can party, get the degree and come back to take over your father’s business. Of course your father took care of the bureacrats at the Military Mapower Administration.
6/ You married an American woman.
7/ You had the luck of being born in the US thanks to your mother who had the foresight of getting on the plane heading Stateside.
I’m in the market now for a flat screen TV and frankly Samsung is my last brand choice (because I worked there and don’t trust the quality), while SONY is not my first. There are other brands like Magnavox, Panasonic and Pioneer that are superior in various aspects. I think I’m leaning to plasma and Vizio right how.
“koreans need to brand their country more. koreans have lots of energy to demonstrate all the time. with that energy, koreans can promote korea more instead of wasting negative energy.”
Yes to the second half of your statement, no to the comment about branding. Koreans are already too brand conscious and relatively more interested in branding than quality.
I believe the best long-term move for Korea would be increased emphasis on quality rather than branding. Right now, Korea is suffers from having acquired the reputation for empty boasting and baseless pride. Pride needs to be based on accomplishment, and the emphasis should be placed on building those accomplishments while downplaying the alienating self-promotion that has boomeranged on the nation big time.