We're in the midst of some heavy shake-ups at Sony, so grab onto something firmly bolted down! Or don't. Whatever-- after all, it's just Sony; it's not like Steve Jobs is being replaced at One Infinite Loop by Tom Arnold or Apple has announced that it's ditching this dead-end digital music business to focus on the lucrative world of downloadable odors. Still, it's vaguely relevant because, as faithful viewer Harry informs us, Reuters reports that CEO Nobuyuki Idei is being replaced by British-born Howard Stringer, the current head of Sony's U.S. operations. Most people are focusing on Stringer, seeing as he's the first non-Japanese CEO ever to be appointed by the company, but in our charmingly myopic way, we're far more interested in Idei getting the boot.

See, we don't know Stringer from a warm bottle of clam juice, but Idei has made a couple of guest appearances in previous AtAT seasons, cast as "that Sony CEO that didn't like Steve." Way back in 2001, some rumors hit the markets that Sony was in talks to buy out Apple-- and Idei practically trampled a puppy, a pregnant woman, and a whole pack of sickly orphans in his mad dash to quell the rumors, even going so far as to say that Sony wouldn't even consider buying Apple if Apple extended a bid. (Less than a year later, Apple shipped the iPod, which eventually nuked the Walkman brand into plasma and relegated Sony to the role of Also-Ran in the digital music race. Ha!) His haste to deny any possibility of a Sony-Apple merger may well have had something to do with his personal dislike for Steve Jobs, which crystallized a year later when the two CEOs sat down to discuss possible joint ventures-- until Idei "scrapped the negotiations" because he couldn't stomach Steve's utter lack of humility.

And get this: Idei had another chance to hook up with Apple just last year, when Steve offered him the opportunity to glom onto the iTunes Music Store in a team-up intended to pool the companies' technical, design, and brand strengths against the inevitable brute-force push into digital music by Microsoft. Idei said no, Sony went its own way with the abominable Sony Connect service, the company cranked out several lackluster iPod wannabes that further nuked the Walkman brand, and Idei got canned this morning. All because he just couldn't see himself working with Steve. Bummer, hmmmm?

Then again, getting along with Steve Jobs in and of itself wouldn't necessarily have been a job-saver, either: according to the same report, "President Kunitake Ando will also lose his job as part of the major management overhaul." If you caught the last Stevenote, you probably recall Ando as the affable guy Steve trotted out to talk about Apple and Sony working together to make 2005 the "Year of High Definition Video." Onstage, the two of them were appropriately fawning to each other, while also swapping jovial little barbs about Sony/Apple competition-- Ando even did his own "one more thing"! And it all felt real, like they might get together for a round of golf after the show. Or maybe they could costar in an ill-conceived buddy-cop flick. Instead, of course, Ando wound up getting the shaft. But hey, maybe Apple's hiring; he knows someone who could maybe pull a few strings.