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"The innovative Rolly robotic speaker system, which is not yet available, is emblematic of the company&amp;#8217;s improved fortunes. Image: Sony\n\n\nLAS VEGAS &amp;#8211; After a rough couple of years, Sony is beginning to look like its old self.\nIt might be too soon to declare a total comeback, but the electronics giant finally seems to have momentum. Those quarterly losses that at times topped $500 million as Sony (SNE) struggled to turn around its core electronics business? They\u2019re not quite a distant memory. But here at the Consumer Electronics Show, Sony does exude a confidence it hasn\u2019t shown in a while.\nAt a dinner with journalists Monday night, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow was upbeat. Despite the slowing economy, consumers responded to Sony\u2019s risky $100 million marketing campaign, and turned out in force to buy high-definition TVs, camcorders and other gear in November and December. The industry support for Sony\u2019s Blu-ray format for high-definition video is also encouraging. \u201CI think across the board we demonstrated we had a good holiday season,\u201D Glasgow said.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew iPod nano: up close (Photos 1-5)\n\n\nNokia&amp;#8217;s answer to the iPhone (Photos 1-7)\n\nGame-changing cell phones (Photos 1-7)\n\n\n\nSony executives didn&amp;#8217;t reveal specific sales figures but said that the company recorded double-digit revenue growth in 2007 over the previous year.\n\u201CI\u2019m excited about our little video product, the Walkman,&amp;#8221; Glasgow said. &amp;#8220;It sold out over the holidays. I think we learned that going open and not keeping as much proprietary has some very positive effects sometimes.\u201D\nThe new open mentality at Sony appears to be more than a fad. Sony Electronics executives said they were surprised by customer enthusiasm for its embrace of the MP3 and WMA formats in its media players. And even the corporate culture is opening up. At a recent corporate rally, Welsh-born CEO Howard Stringer sat company\u2019s newest, most fired-up engineers closest to the stage, in the auditorium\u2019s front-row seats in the middle section. The clear message: It will take new energy and new ideas to secure Sony\u2019s future.\nThat message of change carried over to the Sony booth here in Las Vegas. Rather than organize products by business unit, Sony for the first time organized them by how they are used. Home entertainment devices are all together, whether they are game consoles, Blu-ray players or PCs. Mobility products are together as well. The approach is reminiscent of an Apple (AAPL) Store, where the company groups products together to show customers how they might get work done.\nNot everything at Sony is going right. The PlayStation 3 and PSP are losing this round of the video game console wars to Nintendo\u2019s Wii and DS. Sony Pictures Entertainment also faces challenges, with the Hollywood writer strike and declining DVD sales. But it\u2019s the core electronics business that supplies 75% of Sony\u2019s revenues, and the change in fortunes there brightens up everything else."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2008/01/09/good-times-roll-again-at-sony/>