Eclipsed by AppleElectronics companies in Japan are starting to turn themselves around, but they are a shadow of their former selves FOR Sony it was a bittersweet moment. On July 1st the firm bid a final farewell to its Vaio personal computers, a global brand which won such a devoted following after its launch in 1996 that the late Steve Jobs, a fan of Sony in its glory days, once asked to equip i
![Eclipsed by Apple](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/a3548216a80bc7bfae0c81503787323048d248c8/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fimg%2Fb%2F595%2F335%2F90%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Fprint-edition%2F20140712_WBD001_0.jpg)