This is without doubt to the top of my "...never saw that coming" list. Sony decides to sell its VAIO line to Japanese investment fund JIP. The TV branding will also get some ruffled features as Sony will be uprooting it but still keeping the division in house. I'm sure we're all wondering the same thing, just how much did Sony sell it for? Unfortunately, that amount remains disclosed, but I assure you it had to be a pretty penny!
First, lets deal with the emotions. Sony as a brand has a huge legacy, and that legacy has an incredible reach across all platforms in the technology world. For me, even as a gamer, Sony's best brand has always been VAIO. In a world where Apple continues shape the mind of the consumer, where they define what "premium" is, Sony's VAIO line was always the direct alternative with zero compromise. Till this very day, Sony's lineup of Windows 8.1 machines are easily the most pleasing on the market and can stand a bout with Apple's super attractive Air any day.
But, does this mean one true premium brand in the Windows eco-system goes away? Not necessarily, I love to point to Lenovo as an example for these kind of things. IBM had built the Thinkpad brand from scratch, they stood for quality, durability and the black matt finish they came in was always sexy. After the brand was sold, people had their doubts, but business continued as usual. In fact, Thinkpad and Lenovo as a brand has come a long way since, and are only getting better with each lineup. The same could hold true for Sony's VAIO.
Sony's main reason for offloading the long time legacy of VAIO is simply to focus more on gaming, imaging and mobile. This unearths another question I had to ask myself, was Sony's lack of focus holding back VAIO's direction? When juggling too much at once, something has to suffer. Or, did Sony crunch the number and decided PC as an industry has finally met it's plateau? Is this a classic case of "quit while you're ahead." Its extremely difficult to say what is really going on here, but one thing is for sure, Sony's logo on anything sold with a VAIO name will be missed. Lets hope the new owners of the brand maintain and even take the "premium" qualities of the products to another level.
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