Summit Notebook

from MediaFile:

Don’t look for Sony’s iPad killer any time soon

Don't expect to see Sony's response to Apple's iPad tablet computer any time soon.

We talked to Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer, who was in town to discuss the unveiling of Google TV, the  initiative that marries the Web to television. Stringer was very excited about that product, which will appear first in Sony TVs later this year, giving the electronics maker a head start against what is expected to be a future filled with Internet-enabled TVs. While noting that Sony's digital book reader product sales are still strong, he seemed much less thrilled about any iPad-killer plans for Sony, maker of the popular Vaio line of computers.

Everybody's now making one aren't they? Tablets, tablets, as far as the eye can see.

We have to find a way to make it cost competitive. Apple's brilliance is always to make a relationship with an operator or someone to pay a significant part of it. That's something we haven't been successful at. Even with Google and Sony Ericsson, we are still working on relationships with operators.