Nikkei interviewed Shigeki Ishizuka. Here are a couple of interesting points:
- Hew knew that smartphones would eat into the digital camera market shares (starting in 2012). That’s why he thought Sony had to go with a new E-mount system. As you can’t change lenses on your smartphone, you can differentiate yourself with that.
- When we saw how successful the RX1 became in November 2012 we knew that we now have to go Full Frame E-mount
- In 2013 the goal was set to become number one in the interchangeable camera system. It was named “A1 Project” (becoming number one with Alpha).
- The first generation A7 was a success but it didn’t last long. The image quality was fine but autofocus was bad.
- But we knew back than that Full Frame mirrorless would take the world by storm.
- They also had the advantage that Sony knew how to make video while classic camera manufacturers had much less expertise
- We were the underdogs, and we played “weak” so that the big players wouldn’t notice our coming
The plan worked out…but what about now? I shared my thoughts on the Sony’s past and on what Sony should do in the future in this video:
