Flying consoles

Howard Stringer’s comparison of Sony with Airbus may seem odd. One makes about a 1,000 planes a year and sells them to airlines for several hundred million Euros apiece. The other sells millions of video game consoles for a few hundred dollars a pop to consumers. But Sony’s chief is on solid ground, as the economics underlying both industries are eerily similar. Both require periodic bets of staggering magnitude. Moreover, the future of both companies is at stake. And the market is rapidly comin...