In 1991, Apple handed the schematics for the PowerBook 100 to Sony to have the latter miniaturize the components, something Apple's hardware engineers at the time had difficulty in doing. The end result was a notebook computer considerably smaller than the Apple Portable (a.k.a. "Luggable") that the PowerBook 100 replaced -- the internals were pretty much identical.
Sony was at the top of its game at the time, having a superb track record of making quality compact portable electronics (e.g., Walkman, Discman).
Even in the latter half of the Nineties, the spectre of Samsung and other Korean manufacturers had yet to cast a dark shadow on Sony's empire.
I had one of those little VAIO notebooks, 11" screen, ultralight, huge battery life. Those were way ahead of their time, and I thought they were a much better piece of hardware than Apple was making then. If it had had MacOS, too? Wow.
The VAIO notebook I had ten years ago looked just as good as a Macbook, hardware-wise, once you took off all the stickers.
Without Sony, what other TV will they use? Some Korean brand? Not likely, ever.
They seem to have a good relationship with LG, who are a South Korean brand that make decent TVs. Or there's Sharp, a Japanese manufacturer that Apple use for displays.
Even if he did I doubt this have not worked out well for Sony. The HP+iPod and Motorola ROKR stand out as examples of Apple under Jobs essentially "humping and dumping" HW partners they apparently used for marketing reasons. We already know Jobs drop the clone market and didn't partner with anyone else so regardless of how much he respected Sony at the time I don't think Sony would have benefited from such a marriage unless they could have secured as very, very long, ironclad contract to get OS X with timely and viable updates for Sony's HW.
In 1991, Apple handed the schematics for the PowerBook 100 to Sony to have the latter miniaturize the components, something Apple's hardware engineers at the time had difficulty in doing. The end result was a notebook computer considerably smaller than the Apple Portable (a.k.a. "Luggable") that the PowerBook 100 replaced -- the internals were pretty much identical.
Sony was at the top of its game at the time, having a superb track record of making quality compact portable electronics (e.g., Walkman, Discman).
Even in the latter half of the Nineties, the spectre of Samsung and other Korean manufacturers had yet to cast a dark shadow on Sony's empire.
You reminded me of something else. About 10 years ago large flat screen HDTVs were coming into the market big time and Sony did a joint venture with Samsung to build a large display plant in Korea. Sony bowed out of the venture a few years later. Talk about mistakes - the alliance with Apple that wasn't - and the alliance with Samsung that was.
During my pre-mac days, I always went with Sony Vaio laptops. For what it's worth, I think they were the best in terms of design, features, and quality. Those were the only models I would buy.
After buying my first mac (Macbook Air) I then realized what quality actually meant. I'm glad OSX stayed put on the Mac platform.
I had a Sony VAIO laptop. It was more expensive than the MacBook Pro that I replaced it with under Best Buy's no lemon policy. The VAIO had overheating problems (and was poorly engineered where the battery was socketed, leading to rattling when moved). Windows XP was what it came with and it was advertised to be compatible with the soon to be released free Vista upgrade. The machine was decent under XP. The machine was abysmal under Vista!! Between the bad drivers and bundled junk software that never got updated for Vista, and the overheat failure, I replaced it with a second MacBook Pro (my current primary computer, since I hate Windows utterly now).
That's my brief experience with Sony VAIO computers. They should've taken Jobs' offer.
During my pre-mac days, I always went with Sony Vaio laptops. For what it's worth, I think they were the best in terms of design, features, and quality. Those were the only models I would buy.
After buying my first mac (Macbook Air) I then realized what quality actually meant. I'm glad OSX stayed put on the Mac platform.
Sony would have just messed it up.
I owned one VAIO and found that big electronics companies just want to sell you a box. You don't get the same level of post-sales support (say driver updates, future OS updates) as companies that ARE primarily computer companies. I always had better post-sale experiences with Apple, HP and IBM than computers from Sony and Samsung, who rapidly lose interest in supporting you after they've taken your money from the sale.
I owned one VAIO and found that big electronics companies just want to sell you a box. You don't get the same level of post-sales support (say driver updates, future OS updates) as companies that ARE primarily computer companies. I always had better post-sale experiences with Apple, HP and IBM than computers from Sony and Samsung, who rapidly lose interest in supporting you after they've taken your money from the sale.
All of the last three (well, not HP anymore, and IBM is out of the business, so that leaves Apple) were premium vendors -- you paid a bit more for the hardware, but, as you say, you got more than just the hardware). Sony had (and still has) the problem that it made some premium machines and some commodity junk.
I recall that Sony was one of the co-developers of the Firewire standard, which they called i.Link. In retrospect, that name seems very prescient. Didn't SJ use a Sony videocamera to demonstrate iMovie, via the i.Link interface? Firewire debuted in the iMac on 10/5/99, in the slot-loading DV models. Anyway, the i.Link/Firewire development suggests to me that Apple and Sony were exploring many ideas together, and it seems not unreasonable that a VAIO running MacOS could have been under consideration.
I recall that Sony was one of the co-developers of the Firewire standard, which they called i.Link. In retrospect, that name seems very prescient. Didn't SJ use a Sony videocamera to demonstrate iMovie, via the i.Link interface? Firewire debuted in the iMac on 10/5/99, in the slot-loading DV models. Anyway, the i.Link/Firewire development suggests to me that Apple and Sony were exploring many ideas together, and it seems not unreasonable that a VAIO running MacOS could have been under consideration.
Sony and Apple go way back: Sony made the floppy drives for the Mac, and the floptical for the NeXT. Apple's core pro audience has been historically video people, and Sony was (and remains) dominant in that business. For a long time Firewire was the only reasonable way to get your video from the camera to the Mac. However, as pointed out somewhere above, with the iPod Apple very much encroached on Sony's territory, and that was kind of the end of the beautiful friendship.
Sony and Apple did have some chemistry in those days. IMHO it's probably best nothing came of this, it might well have been another knife in the back waiting to happen, had it occurred.
Isn't the consensus on this site that the Japanese are "honorable"?
I suspect it is indeed the consensus -- as long as the iPhone is selling well in Japan.
A new world view -- division of word in "good" and "evil" depending on how well the iPhone is selling.
-- Those Who Can't Innovate, Litigate (goes for Apple and IPcom) --
Comments
Not surprising at all.
In 1991, Apple handed the schematics for the PowerBook 100 to Sony to have the latter miniaturize the components, something Apple's hardware engineers at the time had difficulty in doing. The end result was a notebook computer considerably smaller than the Apple Portable (a.k.a. "Luggable") that the PowerBook 100 replaced -- the internals were pretty much identical.
Sony was at the top of its game at the time, having a superb track record of making quality compact portable electronics (e.g., Walkman, Discman).
Even in the latter half of the Nineties, the spectre of Samsung and other Korean manufacturers had yet to cast a dark shadow on Sony's empire.
Same, without the winky face. Stop speaking for the dead.
Without Sony, what other TV will they use? Some Korean brand? Not likely, ever.
I had one. It shipped crippled by Windows Vista.
I had one of those little VAIO notebooks, 11" screen, ultralight, huge battery life. Those were way ahead of their time, and I thought they were a much better piece of hardware than Apple was making then. If it had had MacOS, too? Wow.
The VAIO notebook I had ten years ago looked just as good as a Macbook, hardware-wise, once you took off all the stickers.
Without Sony, what other TV will they use? Some Korean brand? Not likely, ever.
They seem to have a good relationship with LG, who are a South Korean brand that make decent TVs. Or there's Sharp, a Japanese manufacturer that Apple use for displays.
Samsung aren't the only other player in the game.
You reminded me of something else. About 10 years ago large flat screen HDTVs were coming into the market big time and Sony did a joint venture with Samsung to build a large display plant in Korea. Sony bowed out of the venture a few years later. Talk about mistakes - the alliance with Apple that wasn't - and the alliance with Samsung that was.
After buying my first mac (Macbook Air) I then realized what quality actually meant. I'm glad OSX stayed put on the Mac platform.
Sony would have just messed it up.
In the late 90s, an IBM executive was observed traveling with a PowerPC Thinkpad that could triple boot Windows + MacOS + AIX.
That's my brief experience with Sony VAIO computers. They should've taken Jobs' offer.
I had a vaio in 2002. It sucked, probably due to XP. 3 years later it crashed w bsod.
It ran for three years before crashing? What a terrible machine!
The VAIO notebook I had ten years ago looked just as good as a Macbook, hardware-wise, once you took off all the stickers.
The Vaios are still very nice machine, so you can combine the best of both worlds by making a Vaio mackintosh...
I owned one VAIO and found that big electronics companies just want to sell you a box. You don't get the same level of post-sales support (say driver updates, future OS updates) as companies that ARE primarily computer companies. I always had better post-sale experiences with Apple, HP and IBM than computers from Sony and Samsung, who rapidly lose interest in supporting you after they've taken your money from the sale.
Steve thought that he was fine with clones even up until WWDC 1997. We know that changed completely.
I owned one VAIO and found that big electronics companies just want to sell you a box. You don't get the same level of post-sales support (say driver updates, future OS updates) as companies that ARE primarily computer companies. I always had better post-sale experiences with Apple, HP and IBM than computers from Sony and Samsung, who rapidly lose interest in supporting you after they've taken your money from the sale.
All of the last three (well, not HP anymore, and IBM is out of the business, so that leaves Apple) were premium vendors -- you paid a bit more for the hardware, but, as you say, you got more than just the hardware). Sony had (and still has) the problem that it made some premium machines and some commodity junk.
I recall that Sony was one of the co-developers of the Firewire standard, which they called i.Link. In retrospect, that name seems very prescient. Didn't SJ use a Sony videocamera to demonstrate iMovie, via the i.Link interface? Firewire debuted in the iMac on 10/5/99, in the slot-loading DV models. Anyway, the i.Link/Firewire development suggests to me that Apple and Sony were exploring many ideas together, and it seems not unreasonable that a VAIO running MacOS could have been under consideration.
I recall that Sony was one of the co-developers of the Firewire standard, which they called i.Link. In retrospect, that name seems very prescient. Didn't SJ use a Sony videocamera to demonstrate iMovie, via the i.Link interface? Firewire debuted in the iMac on 10/5/99, in the slot-loading DV models. Anyway, the i.Link/Firewire development suggests to me that Apple and Sony were exploring many ideas together, and it seems not unreasonable that a VAIO running MacOS could have been under consideration.
Sony and Apple go way back: Sony made the floppy drives for the Mac, and the floptical for the NeXT. Apple's core pro audience has been historically video people, and Sony was (and remains) dominant in that business. For a long time Firewire was the only reasonable way to get your video from the camera to the Mac. However, as pointed out somewhere above, with the iPod Apple very much encroached on Sony's territory, and that was kind of the end of the beautiful friendship.
Without Sony, what other TV will they use? Some Korean brand? Not likely, ever.
LOL. Nice to see the open, and moderator-endorsed, anti-Korean racism on this site.
-- Those Who Can't Innovate, Litigate --
* Has Apple ever invented anything?
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFeC25BM9E0
* In a word, no.
Sony and Apple did have some chemistry in those days. IMHO it's probably best nothing came of this, it might well have been another knife in the back waiting to happen, had it occurred.
Isn't the consensus on this site that the Japanese are "honorable"?
I suspect it is indeed the consensus -- as long as the iPhone is selling well in Japan.
A new world view -- division of word in "good" and "evil" depending on how well the iPhone is selling.
-- Those Who Can't Innovate, Litigate (goes for Apple and IPcom) --
* Has Apple ever invented anything?
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFeC25BM9E0
* In a word, no.