Sony Chief Voices Confidence in PlayStation 3 Console
By Kyodo News International, Tokyo
Jun. 26–TOKYO — Sony Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer on Monday expressed confidence in the new PlayStation 3 video game console due to be released this November, while admitting the risk involved in its price that is higher than those of machines sold by competitors.
Once the new console gets off to a start in the market, cheaper, rival machines should pose little cause for concern, said the CEO, adding that it is technologically equipped to handle future advances in game software.
The newest PlayStation console, at about 60,000 yen, will cost double the Wii machine to be marketed by Nintendo Co. in this year or Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox360, which hit the market last year.
With regard to the ongoing rivalry between the Blu-ray Disc promoted by Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and the HD DVD format pushed by Toshiba Corp., NEC Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. to achieve an industry standard status, the Sony chairman also professed optimism about the Sony format.
Film producers are aware of the advantage of using the Blu-ray Disc, which can handle a large quantity of data, he said.
Sony President Ryoji Chubachi, who spoke to reporters together with Stringer, pointed to the successes of some new Sony products, such as the Bravia line of high-definition, flat-panel TVs, which sold well during the end-of-year sales in December.
“It is evident that we are making a comeback in terms of our branding power with Bravia having done so well in the market,” he added.
Referring to the failure of the new Sony Walkman digital portable music player to wrest market share from Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod as targeted, Chubachi talked about a plan to reinvent Walkman in an image unique to Sony.
Stringer also announced a plan to debut in the United Sates electronic books, or a thin, portable display, on which people can turn pages on its screen to read a book.
The new type of reading device is small, durable and eco-friendly because it can help reduce lumber consumption, Stringer said.
The chairman added that Sony will not give up its effort to nurture the development of new products even if their prospects of becoming commercial successes look uncertain as long as they show a modicum of promise.
Concerning the company’s overall business, he stressed progress is well under way on the company’s business reform efforts, saying it has followed through with its restructuring as originally planned.
Chubachi also said, “The reform program is only half completed but we have done what we should have done over the past year.” Sony’s three-year restructuring plan announced last September calls for slashing 6,000 jobs overseas and 4,000 in Japan, selling off 120 billion yen worth assets and closing 11 of its manufacturing sites with a view to cutting 200 billion yen in costs by March 2008.
This April, the company reported a group net profit of 123.62 billion yen for the year to March 31, down 24.5 percent from a year earlier but far better than Sony’s forecast in September of a 10 billion yen loss. The profit reflects a recovery in its core electronics business, Sony said.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Kyodo News International, Tokyo
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