HP Announces Glass-Backed Envy 14 Spectre

HP has upped the ultrabook ante with a glass-backed HP laptop that looks a bit like a MacBook and a lot like the future of HP trade dress. The HD screen displays 1600×900 pixels and includes HDMI out, Ethernet, USB 3.0, and mini Displayport ports.
The glass on the back of the laptop is Gorilla Glass, which means it probably won’t break if you drop it. It includes a fat 128GB SSD drive for $1,400 and an optional 256GB upgrade. It runs a Core i5 or i7 processor and ships in February.
HP has been using this design quite a bit lately, which suggests they’ve gone all in when it comes to high-design ultrabooks. This one is a very special case – the glass back is more gimmick than anything else – but it will be interesting to see how HP is able to sell this to fleet buyers.

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Sony Keeps Concepts Alive At CES 2012

Today at Sony’s CES 2012 press conference, the company unveiled several PC concepts that are, well, just concepts. Kazuo Hirai took to the massive Sony stage deep within the Las Vegas Convention center and talked about the convergence of TV and computers. But no one cares about that marketing nonsense. It was the concepts they flashed on the screen that got everyone excited.
But don’t expect these products to hit the market. Companies are not supposed to sell concepts. They’re concepts, not products.

Up until the last decade, Sony was the design leader in consumer electronics. Sure, others had hits, but no one had decades of iconic products like Sony. Then, for whatever reason, Sony seemed to lose it soul. It lost the magic that made generations of consumers fall in love with the brand. It’s sad, really.
Companies seem afraid to show concepts now-in-days. Perhaps they’re frightened of the potential criticism. MG would no doubt crucify some of them. But these companies also lose out on the conversations and hype that they can generate. Concepts are supposed to invoke an emotional response — good or bad. You’re supposed to love it or hate it. Concepts are supposed to show where the brand is headed.
Think about concept cars: They’re a physical roadmap produced when designers are allowed to go wild. Teenage boys dream about these cars. Posters are made. They are the heart of the automotive world and can often reignite a dead brand.

Several concept gadgets made it to the market. The original Dell XPS is a fine example. The limited-run notebook was loved by many and it was Dell’s halo product for several quarters. But because it wasn’t a blockbuster, runaway success, it was quietly killed. Instead, Dell should have had a clear message that this was going to be a limited product, designed simply for Dell’s fans and those looking for a unique product.
The gadget world is stuck in a cycle of regurgitation and repetition. A random company produces a concept, Apple prefects it, which is then copied by nearly every other company. Concepts are a lost art. Sony is in a desperate need of finding its soul again. Sony needs concepts.

Crunchbase

• SONY

Company: Sony

Website: sony.com

Launch Date: January 13, 2012

IPO: NYSE:SNE

Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.

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Sony Shares Holiday Sales Numbers For The PlayStation

Sony Computer Entertainment reported some solid sales numbers for its various PlayStation systems for the past holiday season today. Sony says that they moved a total of 6.5 million PlayStation 2/3/PSP/Vita units worldwide (Sony defines “holiday season” as between November 21 and January 5 in Asia, November 21 through December 31 in America, and November 18 through December 31 in Europe).
To be more specific, the company sold:

• 500,000 units of the PlayStation Vita (which launched in Japan on December 7 and in Hong Kong and Taiwan on December 23)
• 3.9+ million PS3s (Sony says the system is on track to sell 15 million units in the fiscal year through March 31)
• 1.6 million PSPs (all models combined)
• 500,000 PS2 systems
• 1.7 PlayStation Moves (not part of the 6.5 million total)

Sony also said that Vita owners can choose between 24 different games at the moment and that 70 additional titles are currently in development. The company’s newest video game system will hit Europe, Australia, and America on February 22, 2012.

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Sony’s Music Unlimited Service To Land On iOS This Quarter

Apple users probably have more than enough media on their iDevices to keep them entertained on the go, but Sony Network Entertainment President Tim Schaaff thinks there’s room for another media service on iOS. According to VentureBeat, the company’s Music Unlimited streaming service will be hitting Apple’s mobile platform some time in Q1 2012.
In addition to simply streaming music from the Music Unlimited catalog, users will be able save cache their playlists for offline streaming at a later time. The service is already available on Android devices (not to mention several of Sony’s own products) so it’s more than a little surprising that it will soon make the iOS leap.
It’s especially puzzling because there is already no shortage of competitors in the streaming music space. As VentureBeat notes, rivals Spotify and Rdio have been on iOS for quite some time now, and already offer a similar feature set.
Really, it’s problem that all new entrants to this space have to deal with. As Eric Schmidt would probably say, it all comes down to differentiation. Rara, a relatively new streaming music service that launched this past December, is a great example. While they peg their service as being tuned for the non-tech savvy, their other main differentiator was that they launched simultaneously in multiple markets worldwide where some of the bigger services have yet to make a splash. While it’s still early to say if the approach is actually sustainable, I’ve got to give them credit for taking a different approach.
In this case, Sony’s appearance on iOS probably holds considerable appeal for people who have already invested heavily into the Sony media/hardware ecosystem, but it’s going to be a tough sell for anyone who doesn’t have some sort of pre-existing allegiance to the Japanese giant. I wish them the best — more competition is always good — but I look forward to seeing how many iOS users adopt it.

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