Source: Reuters and CNET News.com
Sony, Intel May Team On Home Appliance Networks
Japanese electronics heavyweight Sony said it is in talks with U.S. chipmaker Intel about a possible alliance in next-generation home appliance networks. It is the latest in Sony's efforts to seal its leading position in the fast-growing home networking business by linking up with powerful electronics manufacturers. Sony, armed with its popular audio-visual products and rich entertainment content, wants to take a core role in the digital network era under which digital televisions, set-top boxes and other devices are being linked in home networks. ""We are in talks with Intel on a next-generation home appliance network but have not decided any details yet on the matter,"" a Sony spokesman said. The spokesman declined to make a further comment, but Jiji news agency reported the two firms will join hands to develop technologies that would allow easy transmission of visual images between personal computers and digital home appliances. The two firms would also develop gadgets using Sony's Memory Stick, a chewing gum-sized memory device which allows digital video images, music or computer files to be transferred among various electronics devices, Jiji said. A formal announcement is due soon, it added. Sony, the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker after Matsushita Electric Industrial, has been active in forming ties with other firms in the area of digital networking. It will jointly develop with Sun Microsystems technology that allows home appliances, digital video and audio equipment to be connected to the Internet. It has also agreed with Microsoft, IBM and others to cooperate on their respective electronic music distribution technologies, while having forged several licensing agreements with companies adopting the Memory Stick platform. By licensing Memory Stick technology to other makers, Sony wants to popularize the device to avoid a repetition of its Betamax fiasco, an unsuccessful rival to the dominant VHS video format. ""You cannot develop anything under this digital network era without forming alliances,"" said Motoharu Sone, an analyst at Universal Securities. ""The one between Sony and Intel should be open, and the point is who else will join in the camp,"" he added. ""That's the key to winning a de facto standard in this digital network business.""