James Delahunty
21 Dec 2010 1:25
A Sony Corp. executive has revealed that the electronics giant is likely to fall short of its LCD television sales target this year.
Sony Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka revealed to media sources that the company would struggle to make the division profitable this year, reports Reuters. He also said the company is not expecting a substantial change in the business for the next financial year either.
This year has been a good year for sales of new television sets in the Japan, driven by the digitization of terrestrial broadcasting and a government stimulus plan. However, these factors won't help Sony beyond December in the country.
Additionally, the market is under-performing in the United States where unemployment remains very high. Best Buy shocked its investors last week by announcing a drop in quarterly sales at its existing stores in the U.S, saying that sales of 3D television sets fell behind industry expectations.
Sony had hoped that its 3D offerings would help to drive its sales of LCD TVs to 25 million units in the year to March 2011. Yoshioka said sales of Sony's 3D sets would not fall too far behind the company's 2.5 million unit target, and said sales of its Google TV product was in line with expectations.
"Talking to customers, there are some who are worried about how much content has been prepared and others who mistakenly assume that 3D TVs can only show images in 3D," Yoshioka said.