Sony is a large Japanese electronics maker. Their products include the PlayStation2.
As a very large company, it does many different things -- it has a huge consumer electronics division that makes lots of cool things, and it has a large music recording division. These divisions often have opposing views and demands (for example on things such as DRM).
Sony have a preference for coming up with their own proprietary technologies rather than using open standards. A few well-known examples include:
See also SonyEricsson
4 pages link to Sony: