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Sony Q3 profit falls

03 February 2011 11:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Sony Corp’s lack of hit products and a price war for televisions is keeping a lid on earnings prospects at the Japanese consumer electronics giant, despite a boost in profits from its games division, Reuters reported.

While Sony’s operating profits fell 5.9 percent in the third quarter, rival Sharp Corp saw a 9.5 percent rise in profit as its TV sales, heavily focused on the domestic market, spiked up ahead of the reduction of Japanese government subsidies.

Sony, which also competes with Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in televisions and Canon Inc , and Nikon in digital cameras, has been struggling to keep pace with rivals in terms of profits or products.

Since CEO Howard Stringer took the helm in 2005, the company’s share price has fallen by a quarter and Sony has failed to replicate its early successes with the likes of the Walkman and PlayStation game console.

While October-December earnings at both Sony and Sharp exceeded market expectations, analysts said they remained well behind major international players such as Apple Inc in developing hot new products.

"Sony hasn’t even come up with its own tablet, and is already a year behind Apple," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo. "It’s not a company that has the appeal of a fresh and innovative powerhouse.

The results came a week after Sony unveiled a new portable games device, the Next Generation Portable (NGP), aiming to compete with Nintendo Co Ltd and fend off competition from Apple’s iPhone.

The NGP, announced alongside a plan to make PlayStation games available on other makers’ Android-based mobile devices, was generally well received, but analysts said its specifications would likely make it more expensive than Nintendo’s DS, potentially deterring some consumers.