Not having any inside knowledge, I don't _know_ this, but it's always seemed to me that Sony has never been able to write software to save its life. Whether it's PSN, or the pathetic web store for the Sony eReader, or the equally pathetic Mac and PC software for the Sony eReader, Sony software has consistently disappointed me.
Given how brilliant Sony's hardware designers have historically been, I wonder if there is something fundamental going on. Could it be that Sony is simply not good at hiring and retaining good software engineers, perhaps because the hardware engineers get all of the kudos and awards and perks? If so, Sony wouldn't be the only company that has had that problem. Before I gave up on Nokia smartphones (my last Nokia phone was the E70) I've had similar suspicions about Nokia products. I loved their hardware design, but the software didn't seem to live up to the promise of the hardware...
I'm a consultant who is wrapping up a gig w/ a division of Sony, and I will say that Sony as a company is very very silo'ed. The various divisions of Sony almost never communicate amongst each other, and there's a shit-ton of duplicate efforts within groups. I'm very surprised they were able to develop a PSP Phone.
I guess I'm thinking that trying to diagnose the problems with their software as a corporate culture thing might be a bit misguided as Sony literally behaves like several completely separate companies running in parallel, unaware of each other. Although perhaps the quality of their software would improve if they worked together and leveraged each other's work. Seems like a stretch, though.
Given how brilliant Sony's hardware designers have historically been, I wonder if there is something fundamental going on. Could it be that Sony is simply not good at hiring and retaining good software engineers, perhaps because the hardware engineers get all of the kudos and awards and perks? If so, Sony wouldn't be the only company that has had that problem. Before I gave up on Nokia smartphones (my last Nokia phone was the E70) I've had similar suspicions about Nokia products. I loved their hardware design, but the software didn't seem to live up to the promise of the hardware...