I'm one of those people who bought EVERYTHING Sony because you could bet on whatever it was, it was going to be a quality product. Plus, they made almost everything in electronics, and I'll admit that I'm a bit OCD about all my brands being the same. Heck, my 15 year old cat is even named Sony! Unfortunately, I think Sony got so big that they felt that they could start using proprietary connectors and software to keep people buying their brand (if you keep it in the same family, everything works better together). This type of thinking really only works for companies that have huge market share (obviously, new or smaller companies could never get away with this). So for many, myself included, it became annoying to use Sony products when their software seemed glitchy, and their connectors weren't compatible with other "industry standard" products.
Sony also showed signs of being greedy with their technology... look at Betamax for example (superior to VHS, but they wouldn't allow other manufacturers to use their format, which ended up being the formats demise). Don't get me wrong, I still buy Sony when I can, but it hasn't been until recently that I've seen them start to conform to the industry rather than work against it. Look at the mobile phones... they use Android rather than developing their own OS. They've also taken the same stance with the 2015 Bravia TV... using Android TV. Unfortunately for Sony, I think that they are going to need to stay the course for awhile to clean up their reputation. As someone else put it... for many people, Sony became the brand NOT to buy. All I can say is that history has a tendency to repeat itself, and I see a lot of similarities between the path Sony was on, and the path Apple is currently on.
