Sony announces “division two” VAIO laptops
Sony is to launch a “division two” of VAIO laptops that are made and designed by other manufacturers. — In an exclusive interview with PC Pro, the deputy president of Sony VAIO's Business Group announced a two-tier strategy for the company's laptop division …
Context & Ripple Effects
In an exclusive interview with PC Pro, the deputy president of Sony VAIO's Business Group has split the laptop line in two: the existing premium tier stays designed and built in-house, while a new "division two" of VAIO laptops will be designed and manufactured by outside companies and sold under the VAIO name.
The timing matters because Sony's hardware businesses were under visible strain heading into spring 2010 — the company had confirmed in March 2010 that the PlayStation 3 trailed both the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 in console sales, the same month a clock bug knocked non-slim PS3 consoles off PlayStation Network. A cheaper second tier is a way to chase laptop volume without spending in-house engineering capacity to get it.
First-order effects
- Third-party manufacturers immediately win design-and-build contracts for VAIO-branded machines, giving Sony a lower-priced tier it did not have to staff or tool for internally.
- The in-house VAIO engineering group is now explicitly ring-fenced around the premium tier, with its output judged against cheaper sibling products wearing the same badge.
Second-order effects
- The contract makers building division-two units gain scale and a marquee brand reference, strengthening their hand in negotiations with other PC vendors hunting for manufacturing capacity.
- Retail partners can now stock VAIO across a much wider price band, which squeezes mid-range rivals whose pitch was that VAIO quality only existed above their price points.
Third-order effects
- If division two grows faster than division one, Sony's control over what the VAIO brand means narrows to design authority over the premium tier alone — a structure closer to brand licensing than traditional manufacturing.
- For the wider electronics industry, the move tests whether consumers will pay a brand premium for machines the brand owner never touched, a question that decides how far hardware firms can separate brand equity from factory floors.
The trend: Consumer-hardware brands are splitting flagship lines into in-house premium tiers and outsourced volume tiers, outsourcing manufacturing while trying to keep brand equity in-house.