Senior members from Sony Corporation Japan were in Dubai last month prior to CABSAT to communicate Sony’s progress in HD and how the company would support customers who were planning to migrate to the new format. The management team visited several countries in the Middle East including Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE.
“The Middle East is one of our key markets,” Satoshi Kanemura, general manager for the Content Creation Marketing Department, product planning and marketing division, Sony Corporation, Japan told
Digital Studio
. “Business in this region is growing so we want to invest more people in our Dubai operations. We need to educate our customers about Sony’s products and services,” he added.
In Dubai, Kanemura highlighted three specific areas that Sony was trying to improve as part of its drive to show its complete commitment to High Definition. “Our sales history this year starting from April 2006 to March 2007 shows that 70% of our sales in the broadcast sector were based on HD equipment. This has strengthened our commitment to HD as this is now growing in our business,” he said.
As a result, Sony has decided that it will attempt to cover all aspects of the workflow with HD solutions. “This does not mean that Sony will necessarily provide all of the HD solutions itself. But we will no longer only supply cameras and VTRs. We intend to give total solutions to the customer. Through cooperation with other companies – maybe OEMs-or other alliances, we shall ensure that we support all aspects of the HD workflow. Becoming a total solutions provider is our specific challenge for this year,” Kanemura added.
Likewise, Sony is also working towards supporting customers who are migrating to HD. “We are pushing HD but we are also aware that for customers, it is difficult to move to HD in one day. This will be a gradual transition and we want to make it as painless as possible. So we will provide SD first but also ensure that we create good migration paths to HD. This means that when our customers upgrade from their SD equipment, their workflow won’t necessarily change – perhaps some parts will change.”
Sony believes that more customers will move towards 1080i than 750P based on current trends. As a result, it is also working towards making all of its products 1080i ready so as to ensure an easier upgrade.
In the meantime, at NAB, Sony plans to launch a new high-end camera.
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