Sony – Don't mistake a hot product for a catalyst!

Today on Wallstrip we check in on Sony. Kids have lined up for weeks to get a first shot. Big Woop if you are a Sony shareholder. Here’s the lifetime chart.

I must admit I have absolutely no interest in video games. But, my son loves his PSP. He is not the only kid (or adult). He does not give his Playstation 2 the time of day, but I am sure that day will come. The PSP is the perfect product for an 8 year old boy. Despite the KID love, the stock remains a DOG! Why?

Sony the company still lacks a catalyst. It’s too big, too slow, too clunky. Some great products, but no catalyst. The right wing hates them to boot.

I want to look at Apple, Sony and Oakley to compare a great product being turned into a stock catalyst.

First Apple. People continue to look at Apple and say – it’s the iPod that remade this company – it won’t continue. No doubt iPod sales will not grow continuously, but the catalyst was it’s delivery and the Apple Store. That part of Apple will continue unabated for some time.

Sony could open 1,000 stores and it would not dent the bottom line. In fact, it woulld serve to piss off their main sources of retail distribution.

Oakley has a wicked product in their RAZR sunglasses and the means to deliver it (mall stores), but they can’t or won’t do it well. They prefer to lock them up behind glass doors while you wait 10 minutes for a salesperson to unlock the cabinet and hand you a pair that has no music.

WTF! Is there not one Oakley executive that has been in an Apple store? If they fix it, their stock could run.

When Sony decides to unlock some of it’s growth components and spin them off, you may have some growth tickets. But Sony the stock… come on. If you can’t find something better in this market, you are not Wallstrip Worthy :) !

Disclosure – No positions in Sony or Oakley. Long Apple.