- LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The
path to the digital future goes through the living room television as broadband
network connections transform that 75-year-old technology, Sony Corp.6758.T
President Kunitake Ando said on Thursday as he showed off next-generation
products such as paper-thin TV monitors and dancing robots..
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- "TV, the champion of the non-PC world, is about
to be reborn as the center of broadband entertainment," Ando told
a packed theater that included delegations from the U.S. Congress and various
federal regulatory agencies at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
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- Sony's president and Chief Operating Officer, a 33-year
Sony veteran, based his address on a theme that has been central to the
Japanese conglomerate's strategy in recent years: the idea of broadband
networks will seamlessly integrate hardware, including Sony's electronics,
with content, including its movies, music and games.
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- "Thanks to broadband, content and technology will
integrate more closely than ever in the new age," Ando said.
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- The centerpiece of Ando's stage show was Sony's array
of widescreen digital and high-definition TVs. He also showed a concept
device, based on a technology called Organic Electronic Luminescence: a
24-inch television no thicker than a few sheets of paper.
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- The Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on CES,
said 2002 consumer electronics sales were up 3.7 percent over 2001 to $96
billion, even though many retailers warned during the 2002 holiday season
that profits would be hurt as skittish shoppers worried about the economy.
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- ARRAY OF NEW DEVICES
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- Ando also demonstrated a number of new upcoming products,
including a new personal digital assistant in the CLIE line that features
a built-in, 2-megapixel digital camera and wireless connectivity via both
Bluetooth and high-speed WiFi networks.
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- He also showed off a media server, called CoCoon, that
was introduced last year in Japan and will reach the rest of the world
this year. The company described CoCoon as a broadband jukebox for audio
and video. A similar device, RoomLink, acts as a wireless server for pulling
media recorded on a PC to a television.
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- Those devices, like many of Sony's products, feature
security designed to protect digital media from being copied or shared
beyond the uses intended by movie studios and major record labels, a key
protection sought by entertainment companies.
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- In another nod to Hollywood, Ando brought out Drew Barrymore,
star and producer of the Sony film "Charlie's Angels," to help
tout the company's DVD and camcorder products.
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- But the show-stealer was "SDR," the Sony Dream
Robot, a small device that speaks and reacts to music.
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- Mary Mary, a gospel duo, joined Ando on stage to sing
one of their songs, and the robot, on cue, began dancing as they began
singing. It was joined by two of Sony's AIBO robot dogs, which engaged
in a kind of canine breakdancing.
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