Feng Yu was still inspecting AIWA when he received a call from Duan Yongping telling him that Sony had lowered the prices of their PSONE!
"What did you say? They had lowered the prices to 259 USD? They are also giving out game discs? The reason is that Sony had changed their brand culture? What is their new brand culture? "
After hanging up, Feng Yu was speechless. Sony's previous brand culture was "Digital, Dreams, Children." This was also the target segment of Sony's products.
But now, Sony had changed it to "Ubiquitous Value Network."
The previous brand culture is still reasonable and is in line with Sony's main products, portable music players, game consoles, etc. Even the digital cameras, mobile phones, etc. can be included under the category of digital.
But what about now? Ubiquitous Value Network? Does this mean that they are doing everything?
That's right. Sony had invested in many industries. For example, they had invented the first rice cooker. But they did not focus on home appliances.
After that, Sony invested in rice, ramen, etc., food products that can be cooked in the rice cooker. Of course, all these industries went bankrupt in the end.
Later, Japan did not have heating systems, and it was humid during the winter. So, Sony started to produce electric blankets and heaters. These products had brought in some profits at the start, but Sony's prices were too high, and they were gradually phased out.
Sony was also the inventor of the world's first transistor radio. After that, they were overtaken by others in the radios industry. After that, they started to develop TVs, such as imaging tubes.
In the end, they used these technologies to develop the Walkman, which became popular worldwide. But now, they were overtaken by AIWA.
Sony had a lot of good ideas, but none of them could last long.
Of course, during this period, Sony had also invested in a series of products. Many Japanese companies, including 301 Degrees, Toshiba, Panasonic, etc., were like Nintendo. All of them believed in the idea of not letting go of any potential profits.
Sony had invested in coffee, milk powder, toilet paper, hospitals … … Sony might not be as influential as Samsung, but they had invested in some industries that Samsung did not have. Many of these industries looked like advanced technologies.
Do you think these industries are related? Seems to be related. But what if there is no connection? There really wasn't any connection.
If this ubiquitous value network was the brand culture of the Samsung Group, it would be more reasonable. After all, the majority of the Samsung Group's businesses were profitable. Many of their industries could be played within their own companies.
But most of Sony's investments are loss-making.
Was Sony thinking that their investment was right after the movie company started to make profits? Are you planning to use the brand as the core to promote the company's products?
If that's the case, it's fine. There are many weird investments in weird companies, and Tai Hua Consulting also made some weird investments. Not every venture capital investment can make money. If not, why would it be called a venture capital investment?
But Sony had lowered the price of their consoles and added game discs. They are trying to start a price war with Gbox!
In Feng Yu's previous life, Bill Gates was the leader of Microsoft and had lost more than 1 billion USD every year. But he still continued to sell video game consoles. Later on, the game console business started to make money.
Most importantly, Microsoft's share prices had risen due to the gaming console business. Many people felt this is another profitable business for Microsoft, and Bill Gates used this opportunity to sell his shares.
Although Microsoft had suffered losses from this incident, Bill Gates and the shareholders did not suffer any losses.
Of course, if you want to play this way, you must be able to afford the losses first.
Feng Yu did not want to play this way because Aiwa was not listed. If he plays this way, he will not be able to make any profits from the share prices.
Also, Gbox has Aiwa's technologies, and the factories are located in Hua Xia. Their production cost is lowered, and they do not need to make any losses.
But now, Sony had made the first move, and Feng Yu is not afraid to accept the challenge.
Who is afraid of a price war? Microsoft and Feng Yu will not be afraid of a price war.
Feng Yu called Bill Gates and told him about Sony's price war. Bill Gates immediately told Feng Yu that Gbox should also lower its prices. He had felt Gbox is too expensive, as this is a new brand.
Although Gbox is backed by Microsoft and Wind & Rain Electronics, it is still not as good as Sony and Nintendo. Bill Gates had wanted to lower its prices to gain the market share, but Feng Yu did not agree.
Now, Bill Gates found an excuse to persuade Feng Yu. Microsoft will not suffer any losses, but it will increase the share prices.
Since Bill Gates had agreed, Feng Yu also informed Zong Qingxian and Duan Yongping to think of a price reduction plan for Gbox. They cannot be like Sony and suddenly lower the price of their console. If that happens, the people who had bought the console will feel they had lost out. They should give some other additional conditions, or simply cancel the tie-in sale of the game discs.
Duan Yongping thought for a while and felt it is easier to remove the game discs. They can install a game in the console, like the popular Diablo, which is only available on Gbox. They can remove the game discs, and this will lower the product's prices.
Didn't Sony change the price to 259 USD? We will sell it at 229 USD, which is lower than the cost price. Duan Yongping also analyzed that if they sell the console at this price, Sony will also suffer losses.
Now, Gbox's reputation has spread, and some people start to like its exclusive games. The game discs' prices will also be lowered, and people will buy the console because of the games.
Sony had about 50% of the market share, Nintendo had 40%, and Sega and Gbox had a small share. Sony wants to lower its sales price to defeat Gbox.
However, he didn't expect Gbox to be so crazy as to start selling it at a discount.
Sony is still fine as they are prepared, but Nintendo and Sega are stunned. Are these two companies crazy? Their profits are already not high, and they still want to do this? How are they going to make money?
After this incident, Sega's sales plunged again, and Nintendo's Game Console sales also started to decline.
In Feng Yu's previous life, there is a joke. When two giants in the industry start a war, the third and fourth ranked brands will disappear.
For example, when Jia Duo Bao and Wang Laoji compete, He Qi Zheng will disappear. He Qi Zheng was still ranked second in terms of sales a year ago.
Now, Sega had admitted defeat, but Nintendo will not accept it. Also, Nintendo has sufficient funds now, and it's only a price war. Who is afraid of who?
Hence, Nintendo also accepted the challenge. They directly raised the price of their consoles to 199 USD. They had a strong attitude of "Come on, let's hurt each other"!
The media gasped. Is the console war going to start again?
… …
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