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The technology cushion that Sony has sat upon so comfortably for decades is now looking a little threadbare, and the company has yet to properly establish its premium brand status there. It is easy for Sony, like any Japanese maker of cars, fridges or cartoons, to be mesmerised by the size of the potential market in China.

His company, as he proudly points out, may have made the box-office smash Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but Idei knows that cracking China will not be as straightforward as that.

“We have to show that we are not a company that is only interested in expanding as quickly as possible. I learned a lot from Europe on that issue. I think Sony as a company should show China that it can contribute to Chinese culture.”

Idei has taken plenty of noisy criticism over his running of Sony, but he shares that experience with the company’s founder, Akio Morita. And like his predecessor, Idei perseveres in the belief that Sony, no matter what the odds, will always come up with another Walkman or PlayStation.

Until that happens, however, he has to place his trust in the evangelical powers of a walking, talking robot. “I really hope it will contribute to making technology the common global language.

“It walks and pretends it understands, but compared to the human brain it is nothing and that is the important message. The robot gives you hope in technology and the idea that maybe in 50 years it will be able to play football, rugby or baseball.

“Technology is the language that inspires dreams.”

THE WORDS OF SONY'S CHIEF

‘In an environment changing as quickly as this you have no time to create a business model. People used to talk about “game plans” but you can’t even do that today’

‘Tokyo has created a society that is completely different from other regions of Asia. Its economy is bigger than England’s. The greater Tokyo area represents a quarter of Japan’s GDP. It has created a totally different lifestyle. Other companies around the world see that, and Tokyo has become the place for product planning. Devices that work here are forerunners for the rest of the world’

‘Now, I suppose, you own a mobile phone and many other devices; in the future there will be no distinction between data and voice and it will all be integrated into one’

‘It only took a small meteorite to hit the world and the dinosaurs all died. The internet and MP3 are just a small meteorite. Broadband is a big meteorite. Unless the content industry changes, it will become extinct’

‘I think that the combination of broadband internet, wireless, games and mobile phones will shape the future of content. Whether it is a two-hour movie, a 30-minute show for TV, or short content for a handset, I think that the length of content will always be related to the size of the screen you watch it on’

‘How many people really watch NBC in Hokkaido? There is a huge gap of cultural convergence versus technological convergence. It will take a long time to close. Technology is much easier to advance. It’s just mathematics’

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