Sony's former chief, who pushed content but missed iPod wave, dies at 84

By Sam Nussey

TOKYO -Nobuyuki Idei, the urbane former chief govt of Sony Group Corp, who spearheaded the Japanese conglomerate’s push into content material however missed the shift to MP3s that led to the iPod, died on June 2, the corporate stated on Tuesday.

Idei, who was 84, took the helm in 1995 to drive Sony into leisure from hardware, however underneath his management the corporate behind the Walkman was sluggish to embrace MP3s and flat-panel TVs.

Identified for his charisma and frank method, Idei had been handpicked by predecessor Norio Ohga however his push into content material opened a rift between Japan-based engineers and international film and music executives.

“After I was accountable for Sony, I used to be criticised for saying we shouldn’t make panels,” Idei informed Reuters in 2012.

“However when Toyota builds automobiles it buys the metal from Nippon Metal. The worth is within the automotive, not the metal.”

Beneath Idei, Sony ceded its lead within the transportable music trade it had created to Apple, with the corporate additionally outmanoeuvered by home rivals and Korean firms in televisions.

In 2000, Sony’s valuation was seven occasions that of Apple and Ohga had thought of a takeover of the California-based agency throughout the early Nineties, Reuters has reported.

Idei stepped down in 2005 to take accountability for slumping earnings and was changed by Britain-born Howard Stringer, who turned the primary foreigner to guide the corporate.

The drive away from fabrication accelerated after Idei’s tenure as Sony offered off loss-making hardware operations to give attention to leisure, such because the PlayStation video games enterprise.

“The prescience and foresight with which (he) predicted the impression of the web, and engaged proactively with digitalisation throughout Sony, amazes me to at the present time,” Sony’s chief govt, Kenichiro Yoshida, stated in a press release.

Idei died of liver failure. After his departure from Sony, he had continued to play a task in company Japan as an adviser and director on firm boards.