Some of the most revolutionary new ideas come from spotting something old to leave out rather than thinking of something new to put in. The Sony Walkman, for instance, added nothing significantly new to the cassette player; it just left out the amplifier and speakers, thus creating a whole new way of listening to music and a whole new industry.
There has never been any proper commitment to marketing these artists and their music. We are not Sony.
If you watched companies such as Sony and Samsung grow, they focused first on features and then on industrial design, which made their products look and feel better.
Frankly, I was surprised at how generous the Japanese press has been to the idea of a foreigner running Sony.
I chose Sony Classics, not just because of their practical experience, not just because of their wisdom in marketing, but mainly because of their integrity.
When I finished Westlife, we had - Louie Walsh is still managing me - I was lucky to have options from different labels such as Sony and Universal. When we met Capitol and Nick Raphael, I just believed in them the most, and it looked like they believed in me the most.
For Sony, owning a studio is a gamble and probably a pretty good one, now that in the broadband era having content is a great advantage when you sell devices that in a ubiquitous world of distribution can actually show programs, movies, content directly to the consumer. So that you actually create, in a digital world, real synergy.
Sony is the coolest studio. They are really amazing. I think part of it comes from they're not an American corporation. They don't work by quite the same rules. And their studio heads have a lot of autonomy.
But Apple really beats to a different drummer. I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business.
My dream was to work for one of the big electronics companies like Sony or Panasonic.