Sony's Quality Blunder

The Sony brand has been built painstankingly over the years over Quality more than anything else. It seems that even reputable world class companies such as Sony, are not immune to huge quality fiascos as the following article published today illustrates.

"Sony Pulls Update Following PS3 Firmware Fiasco
By Walaika Haskins
TechNewsWorld
07/03/08 11:29 AM PT

The PlayStation 3 firmware 2.40 update that Sony rolled out earlier this week included features like new XrossMediaBar functions, a new Trophies system and, in a few cases, complete system meltdown. Hours after Sony made the firmware available, users started complaining about a range of problems, and Sony has pulled the update in order to investigate.

Sony's (NYSE: SNE) 2.40 firmware update for the PlayStation 3 video game console ran into problems less than an hour after the company made it available for download "
Read here the full article :http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Sony-Pulls-Update-Following-PS3-Firmware-Fiasco-63690.html
Acoording to analysts the firmware flop has embarased Sony.

"To release an update like that and then have to pull it because it was turning people's PS3s into PS paperweights is an embarrassment. This is a pretty big black eye for them. You can be sure before this update gets released again into the wild Sony's going to really go over it with a very fine-toothed comb to make sure this circumstance doesn't happen again," said analyst Michael Gartenberg in an interview to TechsNewsWorld.

Sony should have used that fine-toothed comb before rushing the version out the door on their website.

The lesson to be learned by Sony, and every vendor in this day and age, is that we live in the age of the Internet. Nowadays, when things go wrong, they are not isolated problems, known to the vendor and a few of its customers who have run into those specific problem. Everyone knows about them, and the perception may be worse than reality.
One flop and millions of marketing and advertising $$ go down the drain.
When will companies learn that quality is no longer a "nice to have" option they can do without or sacrifice it to the TTM (Time To Market) Moloch?