I don’t understand why the media make such a big fuss about computer companies like Apple, Dell, Gateway or now Cisco entering the consumer electronics business. Consumer electronics is a puny industry compared to IT. Just compare the market cap and revenues of Apple, HP or Cisco to that of Sony.

Diversifying into consumer electronics is a no-brainer because entertainment’s migration to digital makes many technologies dual-purpose, but consumer electronics will remain a marginal sideline to IT companies’ business, not a replacement growth engine.

A similar instance of the media industry’s myopia (and indeed narcissism) is how they make a big fuss of telecom and cable companies entering the market for music – the entire content industry’s revenues, music movies et al, does not amount to more than a couple weeks’ revenues for telcos.