hoooo noooo

Wasn't it confirmed as a "Joint Venture" rather than a sell-off? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

This is a good move. Sony gets some money back on their investment and besides. Toshiba was a Partner in the development of the Cell anyway along with another company (which I forget at the moment. Hitachi I think?) So it's not like this means anything in particular.

Alpha2
It was  TOSHIBA  SONY IBM  :)

good, more money and power for sony, and hopefully with toshiba they can really work their way trough the complicated architecture, and show the true power of cell.

Does anyone else find it strange that Sony would sell the means to make the processor for one of the cheapest blu ray players to a company that promotes HD-DVD?

All they are doing is making it. So the problem is??????

Sony CEO directive is to get rid of any R&D. 38% of technical headcount has been removed over the past 12 months. They now plan to get rid of the last 130 at Sony Semiconductor's site in Basingstoke before Christmas.

When Ken Kutaragi was still around (having risen through the ranks as an Engineer) it was hard to do this because his vision was of Sony as a technology company but with him out of the way and Kaz put in charge, they have been very quick in culling technical staff in both Home Electronics & Computer divisions. The idea is that Sony is better at marketing than R&D hence it is outsourcing this along with manufacturing where possible.

Samsung make the TV's and Sony puts their brand name on them and markets them for a premium. Most customers that are brand focused are happy to pay more for "prestige" value...that's the idea.

There is a very strong rumor that next on the chopping block is Vaio and again Toshiba or Dell are the likely buyers.

From what I heard, they are only selling the factory. I never really heard of a company selling their best chip, unless they have better in production.

Probably hoping they can make enough money off the cell to at least offset some of the losses from HD-DUD.

the problem is that Sony's whole style is chump. They are losing waay too much money now that they are losing exclusives, 75% of games are late or inferior in graphics, 50% of games are crappy ports, purchase rate of PS3 is way behind, and 80% of devs are saying that the cell is too hard to develop for and/or it does not support A.I. like 360 or PCs do. They are jettisoning parts of their company because they cant maintain their current rate of capital loss.

it's just the factory they are selling, and what the hel! are you talking about loosing so much money.  The gaming devision is just a small part of the giant known as Sony.  Why is it that m$ $hit heads are always on ps3 sites talking $hit.  It amazes me how people don't pay attention to what a piece of $hit the 360 is.  It's just a box that has been spit glued together and that's why m$ had to dish out so much money for an extended warranty.

to pees3rulz.  cmon bro you really should not insult the intelligence of these people postong outrageous numbers. sony has released 100+games so tell me which 75+ titles were late? which 50+ are crappy ports. And list the 80% of devs that say the cell is inferior. post some links too. Cmon dude. We werent born yesterday.

i'm just reeling after this stupid capcom announcement and delayed UT3 is all. However, I do feel that Sony is taking preventative action. everybody knows sony and MS both lose money on each unit sold. However, i believe sony thought that they would have more units installed and more games being sold by now. they need to turn this thing around quick.

Its actually  $864,640,530..

Still thats a lot, why are we selling it to our enemy, other than to gain profits?

To PeeS3Rulz you are wrong and maybe shouldnt post comments like that unless you know what your talking about.  First of all most of the set backs we are getting is due to developers either A. Seeing the ps3 has more power and want to do more or B. Had problems using the ps3 power due to it being new technology.  Also are games are not inferior to other systems.  I played cross counsole games first hand mostly the sports games and they were better on the ps3 espicially fight night round 3 which looks way better on the ps3.  Another reason for the ported games is because right now the 360 is easier since devs worked with 360 longer than the ps3 so its easier for them in the future it will be the other way around.  Maybe not even because you probably wont be able to port from ps3 since it has blue-ray and 360 cant support the games ps3 will be making in the next couple of years.  Also the ps3 isnt way behind in units sold and is catching up and to me it looks like they are on track selling more than half the units 360 sold in half the time looks like their on track to me and ps3 is on a lot of ppl wish list this christmas.  Also I think ut3 delay is not due to ps3 problems but company problems not really sure if someone else knows plz say.  And finally the A.I on ps3 is way better on PS3 than 360 I dont know where you got that rumor from.

I certainly hope not. What I wonder is how Toshiba will take on this endeavor an minimize the costs as well for producing Cell processors.

Toshiba showing interest in the cell, means that the true potential of the cell will like be unlock earlier than we expected. Hope they find a good and efficient way of using this great material.

lol that 00 billion should cover the $ they lost making the ps3 :P

OMFG!!! thats almost a trillion dolers ----$1,000,000,000,000----

"why are we selling it to our enemy" lol duh Toshiba helped make the Cell :).

To verify whether "Samsung make the TV's and Sony puts their brand name on them"  is true, search for in-depth reviews of TVs/monitors you're interested in, for what parts are used. Nowadays it's too often that major parts of some device are made by a contractor. For example my Samsung 205BW monitor's TFT panel (series A) is made by an unknown Slovakian company. Series S is made by Samsung itself.  Fortunately the differences are null (the price is the same, since you don't know what panel you'll get when you order it!).

It is sad that Sony lays-off 210 prominent employees, many of which are PhD probably. And keeps the thousands of monkey-empoyees. In Japan, not until long ago, getting fired meant that you're a crackpot moron with IQ of 30.
What this means is that prolly Sony won't start planning PS4 any soon, unlike what they did with PS2 and PS3. Though, anyway currently it's impossible to think of a drastically better CPU :)

The bad hint is that Sony becomes a damn reseller, and nothing more. Just like EA did. Quality gotten replaced by public-relations' talk. Innovation replaced by advertisements. I guess.

Shadoom #18

Yes that's the case now days. Sony closed its LCD & Plasma factories about three years ago and instead asked Samsung to manufacture the products for them out of Korea & China. Samsung currently make the LCD panels in Korea and makes the Tuner, Amps & Power Supplies for Sony in China. The assembly is done by a number of companies in different regions - Samsung does some, but I think its Selectron who assemble the Bravia's in the Philipines for Australia.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/25/business/samsung.php

@ The Cleaner

Who are you and what do you do for a living?

Just an avid gamer with too much time on their hands.

Howad Stringer at work trying to make short term windfall gains so he can look good an get a bonus!

your thinking IBm Alpha2.... ;)

so they only who OWNS cell? Sony or Toshiba?

The Cleaner... I hope what you are saying isn't true...

The very reason why Sony is so successful is because of Ken Kutaragi's visions.

If what you say is true, I'm going to lose A LOT of respect for Sony.

We want Sony to be Sony, not just any other company... >_<

That 's why Ken is gone. Sir Howard Stringer who became chairman of Sony in June 2005 wasted no time in restructuring the money-losing organizations and more or less decided to withdraw from any business not making an emediate return on investment. Any R&D projects requiring more than a year needs to be sold or partially sold. The same applies to manufacturing. If Sony can negotiate attractive terms with other vendors then it simplifies Sony's business focus to that of marketing.

Here is another recent example of Sony's culling of R&D:

SOURCE: NIKKEI BUSINESS MAGAZINE

August 23, 2007  A big, yes HUGE, scoop for Nikkei Business - the leading business magazine in Japan.

  Toyota is buying Sony's robotics division, including the AIBO, QRIO and the people that work on them. The details such as timing and financial terms are not known to GetRobo at this minute because Nikkei Business has only podcasted the outline of its story, and the other Japanese media outlets have not yet reported on it.

  But according to the podcast, the deal came about from Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho who was on the board at Sony when Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer decided to get rid of the money losing divison. Toyota has been working on robots for a while but a Toyota executive in the Nikkei Business article willingly admits that it's work in the "intelligence" does not meet its strength in mechanics. Purchasing Sony's division will fill that gap.

This completes Sony's exit from yet another highly technical R&D operation.

psn id: gingo.... lol i see some sabotage so blu ray doesn't continue to kill hd dvd sales