Google Android may be the operating system of choice for Sony Walkmans in the future. That means a more versatile PMP, which could open up new markets for Sony in apps and content downloads. Says Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer:

Sony hasn’t taken open technology very seriously in the past. Its CONNECT music download service was a failure. It was based on OpenMG, a proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology. At the time, we thought we would make more money that way than with open technology, because we could manage the customers and their downloads.

This approach, however, created a problem: customers couldn’t download music from any Websites except those that contracted with Sony. If we had gone with open technology from the start, I think we probably would have beaten Apple Inc of the US.

Android will definitely be a welcome change for Sony, who’s already proven its genius in hardware throughout the decades.

[via cnet]