Yahoo! News reports that a high-ranking official with Sony has admitted that the proprietary technologies maintained in the Sony Walkman brands (particular Atrac technology) has led them to lose valuable sales in the MP3 player market. Of course, Apple Computer has been the biggest leader in this area partly due to their players being able to play the MP3 format. (Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I sold my minidisc player and purchased an iPod)
It’s rare to see a company like Sony admit to being ‘overly proprietary’, but I think it’s another huge indicator that the future will be a good balance of proprietary and open technologies … with an emphasis on the latter.
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I agree with you Alec that this announcement is significant, especially coming from an industry leader like Sony. I wonder though if the issue is about open technologies (which you know I am in favour of) or open data formats. I think a number of technology companies my be able to slow (but not stop!) the move towards open technologies by rallying behind open data formats that are compatable on anyone’s hardware or software. For most consumers, cross-compatability is the most desirable characteristic – VHS vs. Beta made that clear.