There was a time when a huge anticipation and excitement surrounded Sony's products and people waited with baited breath to see what new gadget the 'once upon a time' tech giant pulls out from their hat. Now, Apple manages to do that. There was a time when owing a gadget imprinted with 'Sony' on it seemed to be the epitome of being cool. Any other brand was considered unworthy and seemed out of league. Now, Apple manages to do that. There was a time when Sony rolled out numerous products one after another and everything seemed to be just perfect. There was a sense of curiosity amongst geeks and Sony could do no wrong. Now, Apple manages to do that.

Enough of Sony nostalgia and Apple mentions, but the point here is how can this tech giant which seemed to be at the forefront of every delightful gadget blew their position away and recorded an annual loss of $5.7 billion? Certainly, it hasn't been the best of times for Sony as quarter after quarter they've been reporting losses and the recent loss of $3.2 billion for the January-March period marked the streak of fifth straight quarterly loss to sum up a miserable fiscal year, the worst period in Sony's 66-year history. The only good news was that the original numbers were lower than the predicted net loss which was estimated to be around $6.4 billion. The losses were projected after Sony's executive, Kazuo Hirai announced a string of goals and some promising changes with a revival plan to cut out 10,000 jobs.

Once a pioneer in technology and the face of Japanese innovations; Sony dished out some revolutionary products of its generations including the Walkman music players and Trinitron TVs. But comparing the past with present, Sony is just holding onto its position in the market which it owned once upon a time. TVs. In fact, they're struggling to keep on terms with the expertise of Samsung, LG, Panasonic and many others. Sony's cameras are still worth having, but even the camera market is crowding up with the likes of Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Casio, Olympus... the list goes on. Sony's buyout of Ericsson for 1.05 billion euro made some strategic sense and may have handed the company a lifeline in the smartphone market, but with repeated noises from Apple (who else?), Google and Samsung; Sony needs to act right away and deliver something big. With Sony's e-Book readers claiming them 'wireless leaders that's more than words', Amazon's Kindle might have something to say, and so will numerous other e-book readers including Barnes & Noble's Nook and Onyx' BeBooks. After revolutionizing the portable music market with the likes of Walkman, Discman and Watchman, Sony failed to deliver on future and are nowhere as compared to iPod. Once the market leaders with their PS2, Sony is also losing ground due to the ever increasing influences of Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360's.

The entire scenario makes it pretty clear that Sony is a sinking ship which needs effective fixes to ensure that it not only stays afloat but can fend off a warrior ship effectively. But despite multiple products and numerous restructuring plans, where is it going wrong for Sony?

Lack of Innovation - Despite boasting of some of the most revolutionary and brilliant products, Sony seems to be lacking in the 'peek in future' department to come up with more innovations that would wow the world. Since past few years, they have been playing catch-up with their competitors and instead of developing for the future; they've been investing in fixing and redesigning their past wonders (TVs and gaming consoles). It has been a while since Sony launched something exclusive out of their division and thus capitalizing on it, instead their ventures in smartphone and tablet markets (Sony is offering nothing different from their competitors) have made it clear that they're lacking on something which they could call their 'own', big time.

Lack of a Platform and Sony Ericsson - With the huge successes of Google's Android and Apple's iOs, it's pretty clear that Sony needs an independent platform exclusive to its products which will give them a much better and effective platform to play upon. With the ever expanding Android crowd and the individual market share of companies getting divided, an independent platform is a dire need for Sony.

Nokia has more than 80 models available whereas Sony Ericsson has more than 20 models listed on their site. Apple has just 3 iPhone models. Still, it's working a million miles more for Apple when compared to Nokia and Sony Ericsson. This is exactly the reason why more iPhones are sold in a day than the number of babies born each day whereas it's not harsh to assume that there are more Sony smartphones sold in a day than the number of Javan Rhinos born in a year (big deal). The reason why it's working for Apple is simple - they've unified the user experience, each device can sync with the other, and a focused brand strategy towards the product. Too many products ensure a diversified strategy which needs to be phased out by Sony as soon as possible. The mantra for Sony is simple - Provide a unified user experience and sort out the multiple screen strategy out.

Turn around the Television business - A large chunk of Sony's losses have been accredited to the natural disasters in Japan and Thailand, but they need to turn around their television business and bring back the 'good old days' back where it was the market leader in television sector. Sony loses $80 on every television set it sells. Although, the entire flat screen market is struggling but it's not rocket science to understand that with these dismal figures it's just not working for them and they need to come up with something better and 'game-changing' technology.

Expanding business portfolio - The last time when Sony came up with some innovative which could excite the masses seem to be light years ago. Rather than fighting tooth and nail in markets where they've lost their foothold, Sony needs to expand business in emerging markets, optimize their resources and develop something which could mesmerize the masses in emerging markets. At the same time, it needs to reconsider winning back their lost market by strengthening their core business (gaming, digital imaging and television) and accelerate innovation in those areas. Innovations in gaming will prove crucial in future and will provide a firm foundation in future sales.

Yet another criticism which consumers seem to have with Sony products is their high costs. This is one major area which needs addressing without compromising on the quality and effectiveness of the product.

Sony is nowhere near the brink of collapse but they must take a note that No brand is too big to fail. There was a time when everyone loved them because there was a breath of fresh air surrounding their products and the exclusivity factor of their offerings persuaded people to love them. Now, Apple manages to do that. But now, when Sony products have lost their charm and exclusiveness to a great deal, they have become yet another face in the crowd which is getting dwarf every passing day. As Sony is involved in the same processes as their counterparts, they can hardly raise their faces out of the crowd. They need to bring back the wow factor in their products and make people fall in love with their product. Being on top of the perch of technological prowess once upon a time, who knows they have a hit product concept under their sleeves waiting to surprise us. Now, Sony should manage to do that!