Hirai fights back (against Hedge Fond leader)

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The New York Times posted an interesting article about Sony. As you know Hedge fond leader Mr. Loeb has a considerable share in Sony. Last week he asked Sony to drop the electronic business. But Sony CEO Hirai gave him a (metaphoric) kick in the butt and this is his answer:

“Mr. Loeb’s prescriptions for Sony are shortsighted, merely milking the company’s profit-making content business for good money to throw after the bad….He defended the company’s continued focus on electronics. “Electronics has a future. And it is in Sony’s DNA,” he said at a corporate presentation. “It is my mission to revive it.”

There are some glimmers that Sony is finding its way again, even as Apple and Samsung widen their lead. Sony’s sleek new XPeria Z smartphone has received generally rave reviews. Photography buffs have called its high-end, full-frame RX1 camera the most advanced compact camera.

“Not so long ago, we had despaired at Sony’s ability to ever again produce stellar products (especially when faced with duds like the Dash alarm clock and the Rolly music player),” Damian Thong, Tokyo-based technology analyst at Macquarie Securities, said in a report published Thursday.

“Yet we now have had a consistent run of beautifully designed, technologically advanced, class-leading products,” Mr. Thong said. “We think these products hark back to Sony’s glory days.”

Editor’s note: I like MR. Hirai way of thinking. A company is not only about making money, but also about dreaming and doing something. Also Mr.Dell told Steve Jobs to quit the Apple company (in the mid 90’s). And see what happened after. You don’t solve a problem by selling what doesn’t work. If you do that every time you have a problem you end up with not having a company anymore :)

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Ken Rockwell goes crazy and admits he likes the Sony A99! ;)

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Hold on guys….is this really Ken Rockwell using kind words on the new Sony A99? :) After years of Nikon-Canon DSLR reviews he actually got the A99 and guess what…he really likes the camera! I am just copying and pasting a part of his conclusion. Feel free to read the full article on his blog:

As soon as you realize that this is a high-performance full-frame mirrorless camera that just happens to look like a DSLR and takes MAXXUM and Sony SLR lenses, it all makes sense. I really like the images I can make with the A99. White balance and color are very good for people shots under any light, and exposure and focus are always magically dead-on. Regular DSLRs like the Nikon D600 and Canon 6D aren’t as consistent; I get to the right shot faster with the A99 than I can with a real DSLR that requires more fiddling to get the first good shot.

So finally, even long time Nikon-Canon owners are starting to see some of the greatness of Sony cameras. And I really can’t wait to see their reaction when the new cameras will be out in 2014!

And the price of the A99 is getting a tiny bit more “Interesting” too. Thansk to the great A99 superkit offer (here at Amazon) you can find the body only for a lower price on eBay at [shoplink 18663 ebay]Camwatch ($2,348.00)[/shoplink], [shoplink 18664 ebay]Samys ($2,449.00)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 18665 ebay]Electro Electro ($2,449.00)[/shoplink]. Superkit offers are also available at BHphoto (Click here). Not bad!

To get a full overview on US, European and Asian Sony deals join our new Dealsrunner.com site. Save the page with your settings to get notified when there is a new deal. And if you find a deal you can submit it easily through this form!

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(UPDATED) Messages to sources that sent me rumors today…

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Sorry dear readers If I am using the blog to contact the anonymous sources. But sometimes it’s the only way I have to ask them direct questions. I got two very hot rumors from two different new sources. Of course I have to doublecheck the info I got before to post them. But I have a question to one of the two sources:

New RX rumor source: Question: When is it going to be announced? UPDATE: Thanks for the answer! Let me know what High-Res means :)

FW update source: I only wanted to say…thanks ;)

 

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It’s official: Olympus will develop lenses for Sony.

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Olympus manager Hiroyuki Sasa confirmed at Toyokeizai (Google translation here) that they are supplying Sony with their camera and lens tech. Also AP reports that “The imaging sensor has already started to source from Sony to Olympus. And the lens [parts] and lens units will start to source from Olympus to Sony.

As I told you last week the first A-mount lens to come with Olympus design is the 400mm f/4.0. That lens will be launched in early 2014 along the first A-mount mirrorless cameras. Olympus is known for their superb Zuiko lens design that is second to no one. And they may do a f/2.0 zoom for Sony one day like their current [shoplink 17943 ebay]14-35mm f/2.0 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 18657 ebay]35-100mm f/2.0 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] lenses. That would be crazy!

By the way, is there some other tech or idea you would like to grab from Olympus?

 

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Great price drop on the RX100 in Germany. Still no successor rumors…

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This is one of the (very rare) good European deals. You can grab the RX100 for 504 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here). De facto that this isn’t a third party reseller deal or some unknown ebay seller makes me think that we will soon see price drops in other stores too.

I still have no info about a possible RX200 or RX10 release. There was a rumor from China pointing out a possible RX200 release next week. But it’s hard to believe the rumor is correct.

Thanks Fiebyrd for sending the deal. A live updated Sony deals stream can be seen here: http://www.dealsrunner.com/category/photography/sony

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