So says News.com and LAT, and things have certainly escalated since I last reported about Sony Connect’s continuing internal politics two months ago. John Borland has a blow-by-blow of what went wrong with Sony’s digital music strategy (which even Stinger readily admitted to today at his interview at the D Conference). Phil Wiser, a Connect champion inside Sony and CTO for Sony Corp. of America, would be leaving effective Friday, says the story.
Wiser is leaving to join a Silicon Valley-based digital home entertainment firm called Building B, according to the story. The Connect division is being taken over by Steve Banfield, a Sony senior VP who previously oversaw the company’s Media Software group, says the story. Koichiro Tsujino, the Japanese co-head of the original Connect project, also left in January.
LATimes: Stringer on Tuesday circulated an internal e-mail announcing Wiser’s return to his entrepreneurial roots. “On behalf of everyone at Sony, I want to express our sincere gratitude to Phil for his significant contributions,” Stringer wrote. “We all wish him every success in his future ventures.”