The issue is a simple one. What brought Sony down is the thing that brings down all huge companies: they failed to adapt.
All Sony's great successes were in hardware. Mechanical hardware. The walkman, etc. were all mechanical devices, without any software. Sony was the king of beautiful mechanical electronics. Before the computer age took hold.
The iPod, etc. are software devices. Yes, they also have beautiful industrial design, but Sony is capable of that. But Sony is not capable of software.
By the way, Nokia is going down for the same reason.
All Sony's great successes were in hardware. Mechanical hardware. The walkman, etc. were all mechanical devices, without any software. Sony was the king of beautiful mechanical electronics. Before the computer age took hold.
The iPod, etc. are software devices. Yes, they also have beautiful industrial design, but Sony is capable of that. But Sony is not capable of software.
By the way, Nokia is going down for the same reason.