Which country has tech companies that once ruled the earth, but that now appear caught in an inexorable cycle of decline? Where their innovations once outpaced others, but have now fallen behind?
The answer lies in Japan, where corporate behemoths with large consumer electronics businesses including Sony, Toshiba, Fujitsu and others have been working to reinvent themselves and retool.
On Monday, Toshiba warned it would report its largest net loss ever and eliminate 7,800 jobs, largely in its consumer electronics division, as it struggles to recover from an accounting scandal and other missteps. The company makes home appliances and televisions, which have been undercut by device makers in lower-cost countries. And much of the cutting-edge home electronics work now appears to have shifted to Silicon Valley, where companies like Apple and Nest are experimenting with Internet-connected set-top box-like gadgets and smoke alarms, among other gizmos.
The drumbeat of bad tech news from Japan is all the more striking when compared with the tech activity ramping up elsewhere in Asia. In China, companies like Alibaba and Tencent have become ascendant. India, too, has become a new battleground for tech companies seeking growth.