Can Japan's electronics giants, such as Sony, Panasonic and Sharp, regain their pre-eminent position in the global market?

Steve Jobs is dead. The Great Inventor has passed away. It means the Apple will fall from the tree and it will fall far from what it once was.

I think most people in America will watch closely to see what Mark Zuckerberg will do. He's a real game changer. Sony, Panasonic and Sharp must watch closely what he does on the Internet. Products must reflect the direction of the industry. SONY is notorious for trying to go against the grain and have consumers adopt to SONY's desires instead of what their customers really want. It's a fail strategy every time.

I don't think Sony can compete anymore in other areas outside gaming and entertainment. They should ditch some of their current electronic areas and work harder to be the real leader of the next gen consoles (PS4).

Cheaper goods are now as good as and sometimes better than the "reliable" name brands. I went to a 100 yen shop and bought a cable that connects my iphone to my pc for a 100 yen!! The original or similar go between1000-2000 yen.

Japan blew it. Failed to penetrate the cell phone market, the mp3 and then the smart phone market. This is not just about competing against apple, but also the likes of Samsung.

There is no point in trying to reclaim top position, especially in TVs. What Japanese companies can do is find new markets to excel in i.e. medical imaging, photovoltaic technologies, aerospace, microprocessors (not memory chips). General Electric did this very well, they cut off all the loss making businesses, cultivated the profitable sectors into core assets, and developed divisions which will gain traction in the future. What America did in the 80s, the Japanese will have to do now.

NetNinja - Steve Jobs is dead. The Great Inventor has passed away. It means the Apple will fall from the tree and it will fall far from what it once was.

WTF!?!?! Do you actually believe this? Yes, the late great Mr. Jobs did create a wonderful range of products, but Apple was recently noted as the most valuable company in the world. Apple will continue to grow as will their market share.

Japan is out of the picture because no matter how many billions of dollars they spend on R&D, the widgets they come up with in their laboratories can be mass produced in China for next to nothing.

I would love nothing more than to see these companies reinvent themselves. I love competition and I'd love it even more if Japanese companies that I used to rely on for good, cheap electronics could re-enter the fray to drive down the price on top line products.

Sony is in the best position because of how diverse their company actually is. If they could get enough energy worked up and a proper management structure to focus it I think they may stand a very real chance of recovering. They need to start snapping up good, innovative thinkers and giving them the tools they need. You know...the opposite of what they've been doing.

If they want back into the top tier they need to be more innovative and less imitative. Trying to keep up with Apple and the like is a sure fire path to disaster.

Innovators as Steve Jobs and Akio Morita do not come along that often. Sony was a leader from about 1960 to 1980. Apple became a leader in electronics starting when Jobs returned in 1997 until the present. Sony began declining with Sony Pictures. Sony was never able to get away from removable media. They could not think out of the box. Supposedly there is still something in the pipe that Jobs started. Question is if Apple can continue with Jobs. My guess is that there will not be a new innovator/company for 15-20 years. Before them you had Edison and a gap due to the world depression and war. There are innovations during war but it's probably most noticeable in medicine. The best doctors tend to have served in war, again needing think out of the box. My guess is that that next great company will be coming out of China if they allow it. As an old Japanese saying, you can't beat China; referring to Chinese businessman.

I highly doubt Steve Jobs was the brain of everything. I classify him just as the speaker, nothing more.

Japanese companies may be able to regain the technological edge ... but it would require a massive change in management and production styles ... which I highly doubt would happen in the near future.

No innovation and no chance!

Japan's 15 minutes are over.

Samsung and Apple show no signs of slowing down and with rise of Android phones Samsung is going to be milking this market for all its worth which is only going to get bigger and bigger.

Flexibility. That's what the SONY has lacked.

I'm pretty sure that's not all they need. Apple are very inflexible about so many things, yet people still fall over themselves trying to throw their money at the latest ifad.

Yup I guess they can, if its true that history repeat itself than I am sure they will be again in all over the market and again make japan one of the leading technology creator of world. Even my company raylogic.in went through this but soon it get back ob track and now its working almost fine.