A small article in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye last week and validated my increasing certainty that Sony continues to rely upon a sclerotic design approach that patently ignores their users’ experience with Sony products.

Although Sony is capable of producing aesthetically beautiful hardware, their design sensibility doesn’t incorporate the broader themes of design thinking, including the imagination and creation of new processes, approaches and insights to complement and extend the impact of their hardware.

In response to Amazon’s launch of their 2nd generation Kindle e-book Reader, Sony announced a partnership with Google that would provide owners of Sony’s own e-book reader with access to over 500,000 public domain books that Google has digitized.

Problems That Even the All -Powerful Google Can’t Fix
As the owner of the Sony Reader, I can personally attest to the short-sighted implementation of Sony’s e-book effort and their near complete lack of design thinking.

I bought the Sony Reader because its physical design was so much better than the cheap, plastic, 1980′s styled Kindle 1. However, I soon learned that the seduction of beautiful design lured me into purchasing a terribly flawed device.

History of Disappointment
It’s apparent that Sony focuses almost exclusively on their own mercenary benefits when considering design options. Their self-interested approach to product design has led to the failure of entire Sony product lines.

Their Walkman line dominated the mobile music market in the 1980′s. Today, they are a footnote to Apple and their ubiquitous iPod. Sony was the first to market with personal videotape players, but their insistence on adhering to their crippled Betamax format ensured their failure. Their forays into digital cameras have produced feature rich cameras, but their insistence on using a proprietary storage medium has limited their market penetration. Their early camcorders were technically excellent, but their imposition of proprietary Sony software to view, edit and transfer files limited their effectiveness and appeal. And their Sony VAIO laptops, although physically appealing, integrated assorted Sony proprietary components that increased their cost and limited their allure. Today Sony has only 4% of the laptop market despite their stunning design aesthetic.

Self-interest = Failure
Each of these product laggards and failures shared a common element: Sony’s focus on their own self-interest, not the interests of the users.

Sony’s design and execution of their e-book Reader reveals that no Sony executives were ever influenced by George Santayana’s perception that “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Design Irrationality
Let’s count the ways that Sony failed to integrate design thinking into their Reader:

1. the user must use proprietary Sony software to transfer books the device
2. the Sony proprietary software runs only under Windows, not on the Mac
3. the number of commercial titles is significantly lower than Amazon offers for their Kindle because the titles must be converted to the Sony digital format
4. the Sony Reader is the only device capable of downloading books from the Sony e-book library
5. there is no integration with web-based booksellers, severely limiting the available titles for the Reader

Sony’s partnership with Google delivers little value to most Reader owners. The books available for download are public domain books, not bestsellers and contemporary releases. The value to me? Near zero. The value of a partnership with Barnes & Noble to access content? Priceless.

Although the Sony Reader delivers an excellent reading experience, it’s apparent that Sony focused their efforts only on the experience that users have after they’ve downloaded content. The process up to that point – especially for Mac users – is poorly envisioned and executed.

Design Thinking Done Right
The Kindle 2, although better designed that its predecessor, still does not awe or amaze. It’s physical design is competent and certainly improved, but it’s not the Kindle’s physical design that has generated its enormous appeal.

In contrast to the Sony Reader, it’s apparent that Amazon envisioned its Kindle as a platform to extend sales of it enormous library of books. Amazon is in the book business, not the e-book reader business, and their decisions reflect their focus.

The Kindle 2 is an excellent product, but it’s not the only platform that can access Amazon’s extensive e-book library. Just a week after launching the Kindle 2, Amazon announced the availability of Kindle software for the iPhone and their 17 million users. Although Sony claims sales of nearly 400,000 Readers, their sales pale in comparison to the enormous population of potential Kindle users.

Does Amazon care if I buy my e-book for my iPhone or their Kindle. Nope. They get paid either way. And to help me out, they offer wireless syncing between the iPhone and Kindle 2 so I can use both and have both devices will remember what I was reading and what page I was on. That’s design thinking at its best. It’s user-centric, not Amazon-centric. And by focusing on my experience, they’ll likely gain a Kindle 2 user when my frustration with the Sony Reader experience results in a spontaneous, and ultimately tragic, Reader hurling incident.

Design Lessons You Can Apply
What can you learn and apply to your small business from these two corporate behemoths?

1. design great looking and great performing products, but never forget that physical beauty does not define design brilliance
2. carefully observe your clients’ behavior to generate breakthrough insights
3. partner with companies that can deliver products or experiences that you cannot – the perception of your value will increase, not diminish
4. deliver an extraordinary user experience
5. do not compel your clients to adopt proprietary technologies solely for your benefit
6. extend the definition of your product to include packaging, delivery, supplies, service and every user touchpoint
7. find new ways to amaze your clients and stand apart from your competitor