Sony Blaming TV Division for Dwindling Profits?

[admin]

The maker of Bravia TVs is feeling the pinch from market and natural forces lately. The Japanese electronics giant just announced its second-quarter earnings and surprised investors that it’s in the midst of a fourth straight year of losses. Sony blames dwindling profit margins for TVs and the strong Yen for its loss. But recent flooding in Thailand hasn’t helped either, forcing work stoppages at some Sony factories. News of Sony’s pain came at an unfortunate time as it just announced to investors that it’s buying-out Swedish communications partner Ericsson’s stake in the Sony-Ericsson line of handheld devices. The Ericsson buy-out will cost Sony $1.5 Billion but gives Sony the opportunity to use Ericsson patents to stuff phones into its own network-connected devices. While investors expected reduced profit forecasts for the year, they didn’t anticipate the massive losses Sony has announced.

Discuss "Sony Blaming TV Division for Dwindling Profits?" here. Read the article.

 

[wiyosaya]

In my humble or not so humble opinion, the value of Sony TVs, when compared with competitive offerings like those from Samsung, is just not there these days. The sets are overpriced when compared with similarly-sized competitive offerings.

Sony may have gotten spoiled from the days when their sets were the best on the market, however, the competition has caught up, and is under pricing Sony. In my opinion, Sony should either reduce prices or come up with killer quality / features that other manufacturers do not have. Better quality / better features is the only way that Sony will be able to keep their retail prices higher than the competition and survive.

 

[nickboros]

I keep up with reviews on websites and in magazines and Sony definitely seems to have a better picture quality than other LCD's. Is it enough to justify the higher cost? That is hard to say. If I was going to get a LCD, I would consider Sony on the short list, for sure. Most consumers don't seem to know care much about picture quality and even if they did, it is very difficult to be able to find the TV with the best picture quality by comparing what they look like in the store (in torch mode).

 

[gmichael]

Sony needs a new line of TV's for the budget minded. That's where the numbers are these days.

 

[3db]

Panasonic is running into the same problems as I posted here...a 4Billion dollar loss..

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/televisions-displays/76816-big-screen-televisions-bust-most-companies.html

 

[smurphy522]

The Korean brand electronics giants (Samsung and LG) have been serious competition for Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Pioneer and some other offerings of the "top tiered" video brands. Unless they offer compelling sets with more real/usable features (like better picture quality or better calibration set-ups **) most companies will fall to the Korean giants, next up will be the Chinese offerings killing off the Korean's (my prediction).

Note that LG and Samsung are not doing very well either this past quarter.

Proof that: One can not rest on their laurels!

**A TV with a calibration tool a consumer could use (like a built-in or integrated Datacolor Spider or a Pantone Huey) would be of particular interest to set one apart from the top tier offerings.

 

[Stogie]

Sony Loses

Regret to read the bad news about Sony. One of the brands on my short list being considered for purchase. The main concern for me is that Sony may decide to stop all TV R&D and production. I don't want to see it come to that!

 

[Stogie]

Regret to read the bad news about Sony. One of the brands on my short list being considered for purchase. The main concern for me is that Sony may decide to stop all TV R&D and production. I don't want to see it come to that![











My dad used to say, "Timing in life is everything".

 

[darien87]

I personally find it refreshing. I have hated Sony products for years as their quality leaves a lot to be desired. I had MANY Sony products break on me in the past, so many that I completely swore off the brand. I LOVE my Samsung TV and when I was comparison shopping I didn't find a Sony TV that had a better picture than the other TV's out there. Certainly not enough to justify the high price tag.

I work for a label company that makes labels for Sony TV's and they were always squeezing us for cost downs, and immediate turn times. So they were constantly trying to maximize profits by squeezing their vendors but never willing to drop the price of their TV's.

I say, "screw 'em!" Hopefully Sony will get the message that they need to stop assuming that their name is enough to get people to buy their TV's. Drop their ridiculously high prices and maybe they'll see some profits.