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    Sony's Kaz Hirai: We're breaking down barriers with software, networking, and Android

    Sony's Kaz Hirai: We're breaking down barriers with software, networking, and Android

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    Sony's Kazuo Hirai took the stage this morning here at Asia D to talk about Sony's large portfolio of products, and while he didn't reveal anything brand new, there was absolutely a theme of Sony breaking down its internal and external barriers. When we asked Hirai about the fact that lots of Sony's products — TVs, phones, tablets, cameras, laptops— don't work well (or at all) together, he made it clear that he's actively looking to change that. "Now that I'm responsible for all of the consumer products with a Sony label, one of the organizational changes that I've made is to create a new group of people from each of the different business units. They are tasked with looking across the entire spectrum (particularly networked products), and ask 'What is the experience we need to provide as a suite of Sony products?'"

    That certainly sounds like a step in the right direction for the company, but even beyond that, Hirai touched upon opening Sony's services beyond its own products. When Engadget asked about the PlayStation Suite coming to other Android devices, he said this "isn't an ecosystem where we want to keep everything within the Sony family, that's the beauty of Android. We're in discussions with non-Sony companies to bring them onboard. We'll make those announcements when it's time to go public with it. This is not just for Sony devices." Of course, Sony had hinted at that at GDC Online with its PlayStation Suite SDK, but there's no doubt that Hirai's working to open Sony's services both internally and externally — now let's just hope we don't have to wait too long to see the fruits of that openness.

    Thanks to Engadget for taking notes while we asked the ecosystem question.