New Walkmans, New Features
Aug. 29, 2008 12:51pm
Hi. My name is Mitch Li and I’m the Senior Product Manager for Walkman players.
I just wanted to let you know that we just released three new Walkman lines this week, including a new version of our noise canceling Walkman that really improves on the last model (which is saying something since it received multiple 
Editor’s Choice awards). If you already have a great pair of noise canceling headphones (from Sony I hope), I think we still might have something in each of the new lines that might interest you.
The B series is a solid music player, with a number of features such as FM, voice and FM recording, as well as a bass boost button (think mobile electronics) and is great for someone new to digital music or for someone who wants an easy solution for the gym. With its compact size and quick charge feature (1.5 hours for a 3 minute charge), its pretty ideal for workouts, especially when paired with an armband and sports headphones.
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Caring for our Customers
Aug. 27, 2008 4:21pm
Steven Nickel, vice president of VAIO Service, has been listening to and talking with customers about various technical support issues and how we can best support them. He has written the guest post below on this topic.
I recently blogged here about how the
VAIO support team won top honors from Laptop magazine in its annual Tech Support survey. Fast on the heels of that honor, PC Magazine awarded us with Editor’s Choice for Desktop support and a #1 ranking for support of Windows-based Notebooks less than 1 year old. You would think we would be celebrating (all right, we did a little bit), but we recognize that customer satisfaction is not a destination, and that we need to continuously improve the journey for our customers.
I’m a huge Martin Guitar fan. Last fall, I toured their factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania and was so smitten that I bought an HD-28 model made during their 175th Anniversary year. It’s a beautiful guitar and, in addition to its immaculate sound, one of my favorite features is that it came with a booklet called, “The Care and Feeding Of Your Martin Guitar.” As the name would imply, it provided thoughtful suggestions on caring for my guitar, and it also got me to thinking about improvements in how we do this for our VAIO customers. As a result, we started a project to update and more prominently display our care and handling tips to better educate our customers about some challenging support issues and how to avoid them. I think these tips are important enough that I would like to include a few of them here:
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Sony Expands the nav-u Lineup: Some Commentary
Aug. 27, 2008 12:00pm
Greg Herd here again-
Today we announced that we’re expanding our nav-u lineup for the fall. We added 4 new models with revised software and some exciting new features.
NV-U94T is the flagship model. It has a 4.8” diagonal screen and includes text-to-speech, real-time traffic receiver (with 90 days of service free), Bluetooth for handsfree use with your mobile phone and audio/video playback with audio streaming (more on that in a second). This model also has our Sony-exclusive POSITION plus hardware that senses the car’s movement in all six primary directions and can estimate your position in the event that the GPS signal becomes weak or is lost. We added the NV-U84 model for those who appreciate the oversize screen but don’t need Bluetooth and the A/V functionality. U84 also is upgradeable to add real-time traffic information if you purchase the NVA-CU5T accessory cradle. The NV-U74T model has a 4.3” screen, text-to-speech, traffic receiver with trial subscription, and Bluetooth handsfree. The 4.8” models also feature updated styling and all three new widescreen models come with our unique super suction cup for reliable mounting on the dash within a comfortable reach of the driver.
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Backstage at Sony Style
Aug. 25, 2008 11:43am
During my recent 40-day tour of Sony Style stores around the country, I heard a lot of excitement expressed by the store staff for our plan to include “Backstage” centers in all 42 stores by this fall and new ones coming in the future. Basically, these Backstage areas are places where you can learn how to get the most out of your VAIO laptop, have software glitches fixed, or talk to real human beings about any repair or service needs you may have. And looking forward, the Backstage centers will also address needs related to other products like digital cameras and camcorders – not to mention how all of these devices work together.
Several of our stores already have Backstage up and running. Paul Velino, our Backstage District Lead for Sony Style stores in the Northeast, offers his thoughts about Backstage (and related topics) as we roll them out across the board with this guest post.
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What’s in Your HDNA?
Aug. 22, 2008 1:23pm
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Sony provides an array of high definition experiences, ranging from home theater systems with BRAVIA LCD televisions and Blu-ray Disc players, to our professional broadcast, production and cinema equipment — not to mention our growing line of Blu-ray enabled VAIO computers.
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Earlier this week, Sony announced a video contest called 
