Its simple, Korea swamped the market for electronics and destroyed many smaller japanese electronic companies. Sony is lucky to still be alive.

Portables, sure Apple and to a lesser extent the fact that digital music simply removed the need for MD's firstly and UMD's currently.

Games, well they got away with the most expensive mass market electronics for over a decade but the PSP and now PS3 are just too much money. Damn now i really feel i was ripped off on my Sony tv now that i think about it.

Music/Movies, well they created their own competition really. Pushing video games destroyed these other mediums.

And the storage media Sony uses has always been my pet peeve. They basically made it so much harder for themselves whether it was Usb's, MD's, etc. That behaviour should have stopped years ago and now theyve got the BR problem to contend with too.

I admire and respect what they did right, but they also lied for almost 10 yrs about their FY result projections. You do not do that as a publicly listed company.

It appears that Sony has made a decision to absorb more losses in the short term so that they can ultimately benefit in the long term.

The production costs will continually be reduced over time and so while they will be losing a lot of money initially, the effect will be felt less as soon as further cost reductions are incorporated and as they sell more software/peripherals.

It is good to see that despite the tough economic climate Sony appears to be willing to give it another shot with the playstation 3.

The decisions they make will not be easy ones but I am relatively confident that they will deliver.

BTW, theres evidence of massive japanese losses accross all electronic brands, Sanyo with 1 billion. Panasonic are buying them.    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sony-reports-1-bln-annual-apf-15241038.html?.v=20

@kowenicki, they shouldnt get away with that but generally shareholders are very timid, and stupid, bcoz they don't always speak up about issues. This explains why golden parachutes and all that shit are happening in the US too, executives  basically are not accountable to their shareholders anymore.

Sony was arrogant and it finally caught up with them this gen. Just because your top dog today, doesn't mean you won't be someone bitch tomorrow.

All I know is this, all you console graphics whores are in for a rude awakening come the next round of generation hardware. That is for sure.

You know i really like the idea of Samsung designing a console. I bet a korean company tries it at some point.

Oh I agree that it is definitely risky but it's just the nature of the business they are in and if they want to compete then they have to make calculated risks.

Regarding the price cut I think it will need to be a worldwide one to have the full impact. They sell the least consoles in Japan so that should in theory be the easiest region for them to introduce a price cut for. Will be tougher in the other 2 regions but it's necessary.

Whatever happens I'm just really looking forward to E3. At the very least a lot of rumours and speculation will be put to rest and we may have some unexpected surprises.

Oh, I don't doubt that Nintendo won't enter the market with an HD solution.  I am saying don't expect any more loss leading bleeding tech consoles that make them impossible to sell to the general market.  When you have Wii doing incredibly well and the PS2 still selling and the DS and IPhone litterally dominating the space, it's not to hard see where market trends are going.  Its going to be more about innovation, affordablity and accessiblity rather then power and flash.

A PS3 Price cut is inevitable but I really hope they do it this year and preferably as early as possible or I fear the PS3 will be stuck in last place for the whole generations and I really want to see the reactions of a couple of 360 fanboys I know if PS3 surpasses it - Not that I'm biased in any way XD

No offense, but this is the attitude that got Sony in the trouble it currently finds itself.  Instead of delivering something for the gamer, they tried to take over the world...gaming world that is.  A price cut won't say sony, or get it out of third, because M$ can counter it's movie easy...that's the whole point that based on the latest data, M$ is making money and Sony is losing it.

I agree with you in some ways but Sony has proved that software alone will not sell hardware, it will help boost sales but it will not sells the quantities required - I respect your view but I failed to see what you would advise Sony to do if you were in their position if you cannot produce enough first party titles (bearing in mind sony has the largest 1st party in the world) and they can't cut the cost of the PS3 because Microsoft will always undermine them then what can they do? Spend money on exclusivity deals for all the very popular multiplatform franchises such as Call of Duty in order to attract 360 fanbases to purchase a PS3?