Sony tries to light up new market
Will combo lamp and MP3 players be the future?
Sony is apparently ready to join the booming trend of lamp speakers. And why not? The combo light-music movement continues to expand, even leaving the confines of the house and into the garden.
Its prototype, dubbed the "Hana"--which means "flower" in Japanese--has taken an appropriately Ikebana form that kind of looks like a silver-plated calla lily illuminated by an LED. Whatever it resembles, the lamp functions as an MP3 player with "full-length" speakers, according to Plastic Bamboo, though we can't quite tell what that means from this photo alone. Speaking of which, the model posing with it looks more dubious than impressed.
No matter what, Sony has its work cut out for it. Not only are there many other such products already on the market, but they're incorporating more features all the time--like the lamp/speaker/air purifier.