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42
Sony Corporation Annual Report 2002
Sony Life Insurance
What is “quality” life insurance? At Sony Life, quality
means providing optimal policies tailored to the specific
insurance needs of each customer. Everyone has a unique
set of circumstances and this is true of people and
companies alike. Offering the same line of ready-made
policies to everyone cannot possibly take these differences
into account. Nothing but a personalized insurance plan
can meet these demands. Formulating such a plan requires
exhaustive studies, beginning with analysis of a customer’s current
status and future goals and extending to taxes, legal issues, finances,
and other factors. Sony Life is structured to provide precisely such
assistance. An important element is our team of Lifeplanners, life
insurance professionals armed with a broad array of specialized
knowledge. Working with them through our network of Sony Life
independent agencies are highly skilled consultants, the result of which
is a “needs-based” sales system.
As of the end of March 2002, Sony Life had 4,403 Lifeplanners and
1,872 independent agencies. Through the efforts of our powerful team,
Sony Life has posted steady growth, recording one of the highest net
increases in individual life insurance-in-force in recent years, even as
Japan’s life insurance industry, as a whole, has declined.
98
13,523
99
18,817
16,538
21,522
00 0201
23,497
Individual Life
Insurance-in-Force
(including individual
annuities)
(Billion ¥)
*As of March 31
AIBO
Pictured here are Sony entertainment robots LATTE (left) and MACARON (right),
members of the AIBO family. Simply by inserting a pre-programmed Memory Stick, the
two robots show different personalities, such as obedient on the part of LATTE and
active on the part of MACARON, resulting in different behavior patterns.
AIBO is based on the OPEN-R architecture created by Sony specifically for entertain-
ment robots. This enables users to easily alter behavior and response patterns by
selecting different software modules. By replacing legs and other hardware compo-
nents, users can also change the functions and look of AIBO.
Unlike their industrial counterparts,
AIBO robots are developed for
entertainment purposes, such as
companionship and amusement with
the objective of bringing people and
robots closer together.
http://www.aibo.com/