Sony is one of world’s best known brands when it comes to home electronics, gadgetry, and entertainment.

However, the landscape has changed in recent years. You can have the best media player around, but if you don’t offer users a place where they can easily get content for it, it won’t be competitive. And it’s been proven twice (first with the iPod, then with the iPhone) by Apple’s iTunes. Although a bit late to the game, Sony has now revealed its plans to launch its own iTunes-like online store, imaginatively called Sony Online Service.

The folks at Sony hasn’t given details about the store’s look or features, but they’ve said it will sell music, movies, books, and apps for mobile gadgets. Furthermore, it’ll also let users upload content (such as photos and videos) to their online accounts, making the store a cross between YouTube and iTunes.

The company also expects the new service to improve their faltering revenues. “We know we have to restore profit in our game and TV business. We must deliver sustainable financial results,” said Sony CEO Howard Stringer, speaking at a news conference at Sony’s headquarters in Tokyo.

Sony has been quite successful with its PlayStation Network, a digital content delivery service that lets users (33 million of them) download games and other content on their PS3. But Sony is a company with many blunders on the software side – for example one needs only remember the rootkit incident or SonicStage, the awful software that comes with the company’s MP3 players. After all those ups and downs, it’ll be interesting to see if Sony can transfer PSN’s formula to other areas.

Tags: itunes, sony, Sony Online Service

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Sony Wants a Bite Out of Apple’s iTunes