In most countries, rivalries generating the biggest news
are usually found in sports. My hometown, Liverpool, is passionate
about its Everton and Liverpool soccer teams; ditto Scotland's
Glasgow with its Celtics and Rangers. Boston's Red Sox baseball
team has a thing going with the New York Yankees, while down
under in Sydney and Melbourne, they compete against each other
over anything that moves.
When it comes to Japan, the rivalry that gets the most attention
overseas is not between Osaka's Hanshin Tigers and the Tokyo
Giants. Rather it's between two electronics manufacturers,
which is fitting for a country whose citizens have been dubbed
"economic animals."
The competition between Sony and Matsushita Electric is fierce,
full, and unrelenting. It goes back at least to the 1960s,
when they battled over transistor radio market share. The
fight turned ballistic during the Betamax vs. VHS video format
wars that raged around the globe in the '70s and '80s.
At the beginning of the '90s, we saw Matsushita quickly follow
Sony's multibillion-dollar plunge into the movie business,
and currently, the fighting blazes across the IT industry,
encompassing PCs and DVD - even robots. Matsushita got its
start when founder Konosuke Matsushita began flogging electric
light socket adapters door to door, more than 80 years ago.
Sony, a postwar boomer company, gained prominence in the '60s,
when cofounder Akio Morita became the world's most famous
transistor radio salesman.
Sony's star rose first overseas. Away from the shadows of
long-established domestic giants like Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi
Electric and, of course, Matsushita, Sony could shine brightly.
But even as it was winning renown far beyond its shores
and size, Sony engendered envy and enmity in Japan. Some of
its competitors regarded it as an arrogant upstart, lacking
the corporate social skills required to show proper respect
due to its elders and betters.
Today, of course, Sony is big enough to command equal regard.
Now, more than ever, it doesn't hesitate to march to its own
piper, often in line with its European ally, Philips.
Take DVD, for instance. From the beginning, Sony and Philips
found it difficult to agree on specifications pushed by Matsushita,
Toshiba, Hitachi, and others, in what is now called the DVD
Forum. While DVD players did eventually get unanimous backing,
Sony and Philips backed off supporting the specs for DVD-RAM,
and instead say they will go their own way.
Last year a new fight flared up over next-generation audio.
As DVD Forum members unveiled DVD Audio, Sony and Philips
began touting Super Audio CD. While both technologies produce
heavenly sounds, compatibility between them has gone to hell.
This March, Matsushita demonstrated a prototype robot pet
for the elderly. In the shape of a cutesy cartoon cat, the
sensor-filled robot - named Tama - can talk and interact with
its owner. Though still lacking in sophistication, Tama has
the potential to become a companion to those unable to get
out of their homes.
In May, Sony countered with the launch of an entertainment
robot - naturally in the form of a dog. Aibo doesn't speak,
but it's cute, and unlike Tama the cat, it can walk around,
waddle after a ball, and be programmed to perform new tricks.
The rivalry doesn't stop at robots. Not long after Sony recently
revealed plans to upgrade its phenomenally successful PlayStation
video game player, Matsushita surprised the industry when
it announced a tie-up with Nintendo to help it build a next-generation
game player.
The Nintendo machine is expected to be ready to market not
long after Sony launches its PlayStation 2 next year. Note,
too, that this won't be Matsushita's first shot at this market,
for it tried back in 1993 with its 3DO game computer - a year
before the PlayStation introduction.
All this raises the question as to whether or not so much
technology jousting is really good for the industry.
Clearly, it messes up attempts to create industrywide de
facto standards. And as a result, consumers who buy the wrong
technology, such as a Beta video recorder, or a 3DO game machine,
are buying into obsolescence. On the up side, it can be argued
that the rivalry forces both giants to perform at their best.
But what tips the scales in favor of this hyper-competition
is the thought that if there were no Sony to keep Matsushita
(the world's largest consumer manufacturer) in check, and
vice versa, we might have ended up with a situation similar
to the PC industry, where one company dominates the entire
global market. So carry on your fighting boys, it's really
a lovely war.
Given John is so pro-war, you might want to take pot shots
at him via boyd@gol.com.
