This week’s newsletter will be blasting off in just a few hours so if you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe. And as always, if you have any feedback, let me know in the comments section or on Twitter (@SonyRumors). The big focus of today’s piece is all about AI and Sony’s ambitions going forward. I’ve touched upon this a few times in the last few newsletters and various pieces written around the Xperia Ear, but with it now having officially launched worldwide, I felt it appropriate to revisit the subject.

Sony missed out on the mobile race like Microsoft did but with AI, they’re getting into it at a decent time – but is timing enough?

The age of AI

In just a week’s time, Sony is going to be launching Xperia Ear, their AI-driven digital assistant. Assuming all goes according to plan, some time in 2017, Sony will also launch the Xperia Agent and Xperia Projector which among other features will also tap into their AI. What’s noteworthy here is that what Sony is offering is entirely their own. That means no data is coming to them via Google as is the case with most companies that are offering AI.

Siri relies entirely on what Apple feeds it as does Alexa – same goes for Cortana though despite being on millions of computers now, I hardly ever hear anybody mention her. Microsoft is still truly feeling the repercussions for not taking mobile seriously. How Sony’s digital assistant is perceived from tech reviewers/pundits and, most importantly, consumers is going to be an extremely key moment for Sony.

One of the promises of Android originally was its openness – you build a phone with Google’s OS and they get to mine all the information and entrench their services in people’s daily routines and hardware partners get to participate in the next great market category (mobile) which they otherwise may not have been able to do on their own.

At first this was true, but Google eventually began to lock down Android more and more which brings us to AI. With Pixel, Google is now shifting their strategy with a focus on AI and their digital assistant will be exclusive to them. This means that, with Android 8 or whatever comes next, Xperia owners can’t simply get that functionality from Google and if AI is going to be the next frontier of tech, all hardware partners are going to be left behind. Ironically, in the meantime, Google will continue to thank them for running Android so they can mine more data to feed their AI which won’t be given to them.

So how will Sony’s AI be perceived? It’s hard to say though it’s no stretch to assume that it’s not nearly as sophisticated as what Apple and Google are providing. Instead for Sony, a better benchmark will be how it compares to Alexa and how quickly it can catch up to it. 10 years ago, no one thought we’d all have a phone (which really is a computer now) in our pockets. 10 years from now, guaranteed every device that matters to us will be driven by some form of AI. The question for Sony will be if they can create something compelling and stay relevant or because what many telecom providers feared becoming, just a ‘dumb pipe.’ In the case of Sony, just a ‘dumb hardware maker.’

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, returning to the Wizarding World couldn’t be a sweeter thing and Fantastic Beasts delivers. I find myself where I was with the first HP movie, intrigued and yet cautious – but knowing what I now know about the series and how they matured over the years only makes me more excited for where Fantastic Beasts might be headed. For WB, this is surely going to be another blockbuster for them. Perhaps not Harry Potter-caliber blockbuster but a money maker nonetheless.

Which brings us to Sony Pictures. For a studio that’s been around for so long and in control of so many properties, you hardly see them commanding any franchises. They’ve squandered Spider-Man and Marvel is finally in control of it again. Now you’ll hear Sony talk about Spider-Man and their future plans for it and it’s true, they technically still have the film rights to it but from everyone I’ve talked to, that’s mostly on a technicality level and Marvel is calling the shots.

SPE also had rights the rights to Ghost Rider (now back at Marvel), helmed the mega popular Men In Black series which seems to be dead, and puts together yearly animated flicks that can’t remotely compete with Pixar and Disney animation. I’m not pretending that making a film is an easy ordeal but as a studio, they have to do a better job at attracting talent because clearly something isn’t working out for them.

PlayStation Vita is finally dead(?)

Sony has yet to confirm this publicly but it’s looking like PS Vita is FINALLY dead. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge the console in any way and find it sad that Sony could never truly find success with it. But if we’re honest with ourselves, there is only room for one portable device in our life – our smartphones.

Even if Vita was a success and was mildly selling well (which it’s not), it’s about time Sony shifted all of its attention towards where they’re actually making headway – PS4, PS VR, and services like PS Now and PS Vue. All PS Vita represents is a world in which the console couldn’t have been a hit and plays no role in their strategy going forward.

What makes things worse is that Sony is basically paying retailers to keep Vita on store shelves. That’s money that’s better spent on making sure there is adequate space for their new fleet of products like PS4 Pro than a relic of the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vita continues to stick around in Asia for a bit longer but as for North America, the little console that could have looks to be nearing its end with Europe to follow.