"This revision will reduce the spread of copyright infringement activities on the internet, " said the body's chairman Naoki Kitagawa, who is also chief executive of SonyMusic Entertainment Japan, earlier this year.
Jobs surely hasn't forgotten that before the introduction of the iPhone, Sony seemed poised (briefly) to derail Apple's iPod when it slapped the Walkman brand on a line of music-friendly Sony Ericsson handsets that have sold well in Japan.
More than thirty years after triggering a music and lifestyle revolution, Sony has officially retired the Walkman in Japan (there is still a lone model for sale in the U.S.).