market research laboratory in Las Vegas to study consumer adoption of 3D technologies. “Consumers are showing strong interest in 3D, and they’re doing it with their wallet in the theater,” says Sony Electronics’ chief marketing officer, Michael Fasulo, who joined Glasgow in the Q&A session.
Sony also has created a 3D technology center in Los Angeles, where it is working with Hollywood’s cinematographer’s guild and USC’s School of Cinematic Arts to maintain high-standards in 3D filmmaking throughout the film industry.
Consumer interest has been stoked chiefly by the box office success of Avatar, but innovations also were a factor, according to Chris Cookson, who oversees 3D development as president of Sony Pictures Technologies. While the ability to create an illusion of depth perception by using stereoscopic imaging has been around for decades, Cookson says, “the instability of 35 millimeter film created a workload on your brain. So the stability of modern projection systems really smoothed that out.”
The afternoon yielded some other interesting insights as well:
—Last week, Sony Electronics announced it was launching its first 3D-ready Blu-ray player, and the company plans to begin aggressively marketing its 3D capabilities in televisions and other home electronics by this summer. Still, Glasgow says he believes consumer adoption of 3D technology will be very weak in 2010. How many 3D TVs will be sold this year? “I have seen numbers as high as 5 million and as low as 1 million,” Glasgow says. “I think it’s going to be on the low side, and I think it’s going to take a little time. So if sales are expected to be so low, why will Sony be marketing its 3D technologies so aggressively? Even if they don’t buy right away, Glasgow says, “It makes sense to make Sony the brand that consumers want to buy.”
—Sony has been revising its entire process of engineering development, which has traditionally been Tokyo-based. “We’ve built a software development team across the whole company,” Glasgow says. “Have we solved everything? No. Are we a lot better than we were a year ago? Absolutely.” He adds that the point is that Sony “is not going to continue doing everything in Japan.” For example, he says the Sony Reader headquarters was established in San Diego chiefly because of the heavy competition posed by Amazon’s Kindle, the new Apple iPad, and other wireless reading devices.
—The reorganization led by Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer has focused in particular on integrating Sony’s “3D ecosystem,” which stretches from the camera lens in terms of 3D film production expertise at Sony Pictures Entertainment to the living room in terms of 3D playback expertise in consumer electronics at Sony Electronics. “Whether it’s Bravia TVs, PSPs, or Blu-ray disks, we’re involved in the whole production process,” says Stuart Redson, Sony’s senior vice president of corporate marketing.
