Sony is changing. The troubled Japanese electronics maker is trying new things as it navigates an inhospitable market dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung.
It has reduced its smartphone business and focused on the PlayStation, which gets a major boost this fall with the release of the PlayStation VR. The turnaround plan seems to be working as it posted a 666.5 percent rise in pretax profit for its full fiscal year in late April. This was the company’s first full-year profit in three years.
While the company’s latest product is unlikely to increase Sony’s march into the black by much, it demonstrates how it is thinking differently these days.
The Aromastic Mobile Scent Dispenser is a personal “mood changer” that comes with fragrances produced by Neal’s Yard Remedies.
The diffuser spray is part of Sony’s First Flight project, a series of atypical, design-focused products. Some of these have been crowdfunded, which might seem surprising for a company as large as Sony. R&D budgets aren’t as big as they used to be.
Currently available for international orders via Japan Trend Shop, the Aromastic releases a refreshing burst of scent in the immediate area of the user, being careful not to spread too far and irritate your co-workers.
To use it, simply insert a Neal’s Yard Remedies cartridge and then choose from one of five variations to suit your mood.
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BETAMAX, I had three. WALKMAN, I owned several – Cassette to CD versions. TRINITRON, I owned several. SONY lost me pre-LCD, pre-SONY-VHS days. They got me back when Son wanted a PLAYSTATION. I however, never returned. Wait! I just purchased a SONY BLU-RAY player. Works, nothing special though – they had it at COSTCO. Oh I had a 8mm video camera too. Wait, I watch SONY PICTURES movies all the time. (Not exclusively however). But, iPhone, TVs, and most electronics are NON-SONY now. From a house full of SONYs, my ex, 3kids, new wife, self NOW own iPhone each, several iPads, AMAZONpad, three Macbooks. PCs are all DELLs or HPs. From this perspective, SONY no longer has the “SPECIAL” feeling it used to. That special avant-garde (sp?) trendsetting character of SONY has long disappeared when I noticed their equipment being nothing special, but a knock-off of themselves. If you are going to buy a knock-off, real knock-offs were a lot cheaper, and were just as cheaply made as the self knock-offs. It’s a shame. SONY USED TO make good stuff. Maybe SONY should buy a car company, and make it special. (Hey I own a Honda and two Toyotas (well, a LEX and a Toy), Daughter has a Honda, other has a Lex. Son doesn’t drive. I used to own a VW and a BMW. VW was a piece of YKW. Beem was OK. (3 series). Handled nice. BMW would be a nice buy for SONY. You even lose a letter in the process. VW may be too big? SONY should have bought TELEFUNKEN when they went under. Well, that’s another one that was big that went the big way… How do these incredible companies manage to mismanaged into oblivion? Beats the heck out of me. Keep on making good stuff, good stuff will keep happening. Cheap stuff will catch up to you and bring you down. (SONY). American car companies made that mistake in the 80s… Oh, I did own three JEEPs. They had their issues though – weird stuff would happen but mostly worked great – they do take you anywhere and then some. JEEPs went cheapo on some things, and that’s what lost me as far as I’m concerned. That’s what happened with VW also – cheapo on things – so never went back to them. BMW was a good car – no cheapo stuff – maybe I’ll go back. Oh, my daughter has a SONY TV LED. Can’t tell the difference from mine which is a SHARP. Oh, I owned a SONY U-MATIC at one time.
Sorry for the ramblings… which I tend to do. Just consider you just wasted three minutes reading this thing…