Print this article | E-mail this article | Comment on this article

Sony CEO replaces gloomy predictions with rosier outlook

By Jacqueline Emigh, BetaNews

December 11, 2007, 12:15 PM

Buoyed by Black Friday sales plus an investment in Sony last month, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer said this morning he believes a financially stressed-out US population will stay at home this winter and use CE products...like Sony's own.

After successful Black Friday sales for Sony's PlayStation 3 and high definition Blu-ray products, along with a recent investment by a Middle East investment firm, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has now replaced earlier projections of doom and gloom with predictions of a rosier future for Sony.

"Black Friday turned out to be very good for consumer electronics sales -- and very good for PS3 sales and PSP sales and beyond," Stringer said, in remarks made in a video broadcast over the Internet this morning.

Only a month ago, Stringer sang an entirely different tune. In a "Captain of Industries" lecture on November 9 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Stringer contended that Blu-ray sales had been going well for Blu-ray until last August, when Viacom, a unit of Paramount, decided to end its dual support for Sony's Blu-ray and the competing HD DVD format, and to go with HD DVD only instead.

But now, said Stringer, Black Friday's strong sales results indicate that consumers are overlooking uncertain economic conditions and buying PlayStation 3 and PS2, Blu-ray, and other CE products anyway.

PlayStation 3 has been fighting a tough competitive battle against Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii. As previously reported in BetaNews, industry analysts have been divided over Sony's chances in the race, with some analysts saying that Playstation will fare well and others expressing big doubts.

Yet the PS3's monthly sales have tripled since the recent introduction of a high-end model, based on estimates from NPD and others, and Blu-ray sales are also going well, according to the Sony CEO.

"We are holding up. It's a shaky economy in the United States, [but] it hasn't affected electronics in the US so far," Stringer said, in words broadcast by Reuters this morning, spoken at a roundtable.

"Maybe that's what customers will pay for in this kind of difficult climate. Maybe they'll stay at home and watch television."

Stringer's thoughts in this regard echo statistics from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The CEA forsees that, although expenditures on travel and new homes are down, sales of CE products during this year's holiday season will be 7% higher than those of last year's holiday season.

Stringer has other reasons for optimism, too. Shares of Sony stock have been on the rise ever since Dubai International Capital made an investment in Sony about three weeks ago.

The Dubai investment firm has a base of over 25,000 shareholders, including the government of Dubai, the National Bank of Dubai, Emirates Bank International, and Emirates Islamic Bank, for example.

Add a Comment (7 Comments)

BetaNews reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

By horsecharles

posted Dec 12, 2007 - 5:26 AM

Sony'll have to keep lowering prices-- just as the Fed keeps lowering rates.

Consumers will demand quality at low prices-- the antithesis of a Sony.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Dec 11, 2007 - 5:19 PM

Things are looking better for Sony. PS3 sales have sky-rocketed. The biggest titles have yet to even hit...GT5 and Metal Gear.

Blu-Ray continues to extend its lead over HD-DVD. Studios are going to start dropping HD-DVD due to poor movies sales. (This despite of M$ pushing $100 million to bribe exclusives for HD-DVD)

PSP continues to sell very well, as does the PS2.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Dec 13, 2007 - 12:29 AM

So you say Dave. Or basically what you want to believe.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Dec 11, 2007 - 2:00 PM

Oh come on, wake up people.

When the likes of Stringer talk to the serious financial people they can't use their usual double-talk & fanboy rose-tinted BS.

When they 'talk' on the internet or to a fanzine it's always different story.
The fanboy saps will believe anything they're told cos they want to believe it and will never come back to challenge what was said if it turns out to be a pack of sh*te cos they never remember what happened in the real world 5 minutes ago nevermind last quarter (and certainly never any 'boring' stuff like the serious financial performance data).

There's no mystery & no amazing change of fortunes.
They just can't BS the serious financial guys (well, not for long, the bottom line always gives it all away in the end).

Score: 0

By MikeTechno

posted Dec 11, 2007 - 1:39 PM

Sony has really gotten its act together in the last few years and made some major improvements. When their new OLED TV's and monitors hit the market in the US next year I think it will be a huge boost for them. They won't sell many right away due to the insanely high prices, but they will garnish a lot of eyeballs and a lot of customer mind share as a result of being first to market with those. I think the "first mover advantage" will pay big dividends for them in this respect.

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Dec 11, 2007 - 4:31 PM

"Sony has really gotten its act together in the last few years and made some major improvements."

Are you kidding? It's the last few years that Sony has been making one major mistake after another. First there was the DRM rootkit fiasco, that cost them millions and a whole lot of bad PR. Then there was the exploding battery issue, that cost them hundreds of millions and even more bad PR. Then there was the year long delay of the PS3 release, coupled with high BD laser costs. Since the release of the PS3, it cost them billions in losses. Where exactly do you see them getting their act together? You say that, yet you provide absolutely no information other than trying to trump up some future product that may or may not succeed. Knowing Sony, when those TVs and monitors hit stores, the prices will be so ridiculous no one will buy them for a few years. That is, until the competition comes out with the same thing, only much cheaper and Sony has no choice but to follow suit. I don't see the great fascination with Sony and their products. You're just paying extra for the name. Their crap is manufacture in China, just like everyone else's products. We all know how amazing the quality of products are which were manufactured in China.

Score: 0

By MikeTechno

edited Dec 11, 2007 - 7:32 PM

Well, I am speaking about the macro view, not the micro view. I think if you look at the overall quality and reliability of Sony's products over the past seven years, you will see a dramatic improvement over the previous seven years before that. The company struggled for a long time to produce high quality products that lasted, and their reputation took a big hit in the marketplace as a result of that. I have seen a substantial improvement in the quality of Sony's products in the past seven years though now and I think that is commendable.

Now, having said that, have they had problems? Have they dropped the ball in certain areas? Have they made some glaring mistakes? Absolutely, no question about it. And, I think they have also made some very bad decisions product wise. (Going with the Blu-Ray format for example).

But, as a general trend, I would think that most consumers would agree that Sony is on the upswing now and things are improving fast there. They still have a long ways to go, and I wouldn't call them a great company yet by any means, but I think they are heading in a positive direction.

As for the quality of products that were manufactured in China, I absolutely agree. China is known for being a low cost manufacturing area, not a high quality manufacturing area. That is starting to change though as more and more pressure is put on the Chinese manufacturing subcontractors to improve the quality of their output. Again, this is still an issue and they have a long way to go, but they are slowly improving. The more international pressure that is put on them from the media to address this problem, the faster they will move to fix it.

Score: 0

Dec 4 - 11:47 AM ET The storm hits AT&T, with a five-digit headcount reduction

Dec 4 - 11:42 AM ET TV sports adopts Web coverage, plays with iPhones

Dec 4 - 11:24 AM ET Microsoft seeks 'community' help to make IE8 Standards Mode work out

Dec 4 - 10:43 AM ET Hitachi GST and Intel make a solid-state deal

Dec 3 - 11:36 PM ET Yahoo cedes Internet radio operations to CBS

Dec 3 - 5:54 PM ET Big BCS bowl game to land at CES 2009...in 3-D!

Dec 3 - 4:58 PM ET Songbird 1.0 music player makes a landing

Dec 3 - 3:41 PM ET Ted Rogers (1933-2008), giant of Canadian tech and media

Dec 3 - 2:27 PM ET Analysts: PC growth will slow, while notebooks remain a bright spot

Dec 3 - 1:58 PM ET RIM's third quarter outlook shouldn't shock, but does anyway