Sony has to be a case study in something. They had pretty much the Apple stores of the day (though not at nearly the same scale). You'd browse the one at the Metreon in SF to see the cool consumer electronics (as well as some pretty nice laptops for the time). Now? They're pretty much one of the many more or less interchangeable electronics manufacturers. Many categories of which where Sony was a premium (mainstream) provider like home stereos seem much diminished, at least anecdotally.