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Laptop magazine has run a great interview with Mike Abary, senior vice president of Sony’s Information Technology Products Division. This division, newly reorganized, has responsibility for some key Sony lines, including PlayStation, VAIO, Walkman, and Reader.

Abary made a number of comments that indicate that Sony may finally be waking up to the fact they have been viewed as a company specializing in over-priced, proprietary geegaws for several years now. The well documented protests over the prices of such recent devices as the VAIO P and the PlayStation 3 may have finally penetrated Sony’s ivory tower.

Here is Abary’s comment regarding Sony’s price structure and reputation in the marketplace:

That question is asking a greater broader question about Sony’s competitiveness in the marketplace, and doesn’t have to do exactly with netbooks.  I’ll acknowledge we have had those issues across the board on all of our products and there has been a paradigm shift in the marketplace that has rendered Sony products to be seconded guessed in terms of its competitiveness by consumers. It means we have to do a better job of being relevantly competitive in terms of price points, but it doesn’t mean we are going to abandon our position in the marketplace.

So cheaper  VAIOs that are still on the high-end in terms of price? I have no problem with that if the VAIO quality remains unchanged.

As for innovations to come, Abary says that touchscreen VAIOs will be coming soon to take advantage of Windows 7’s touch capabilities. In my opinion, if devices like the VAIO P or VAIO W had touchscreens, somewhat higher prices then the norm would be easier to swallow.

Another exciting change is that due to the reorganization, Abary says to look for more integration between consumer products. For example, PlayStation Network access from your VAIO for downloading films and video, or the ability to run Sony Reader software and access their eBook store on your VAIO netbook. If the VAIO P had a touchscreen AND Reader software, now THAT I would buy even at the current price.

Oh, and about that famous Sony allergy to the word “netbook”…what’s up with that Mr. Abary?

With the P series we wanted to come out with something that was a different class of product and more geared at lifestyle. With the W we think the category is now legitimate.

Then all is forgiven. Apple? You’re next.

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Zealot (476 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).