Sony is aiming for a comeback in the global television industry with a new range of flat-screen televisions that it hopes will boost its share of a market now dominated by domestic and overseas rivals.
The Japanese electronics giant will begin selling eight new televisions — both liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and rear-projection — under a new brand, “Bravia,” on October 1 in Japan.
The Bravia television sets have been sold in the United States since late August, with plans to expand sales to Europe and China later this year, a Sony spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The LCD screens will be produced at a joint venture between Sony and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. It will be the first shipment for the Japanese firm from the venture, which began production in April.
A 46-inch LCD model will be sold at 650 000 yen ($5 900) with a 50-inch rear-projection type at 400 000 yen.
Sony used to dominate the television market in the late 1990s with its popular “WEGA” cathode-ray tube televisions.
But the firm failed to shift its television business to next-generation flat-screen televisions while rivals such as Panasonic brand maker Matsushita, Sharp and Samsung overtook it in the lucrative market.
“I hope [the new brand] will be the first step toward a full comeback in our television businesses,” Katsumi Ihara, executive deputy president, told a news conference.
With the new brand, Sony forecast sales of LCD screens would rise to 2,6-million in the year to March 2006 from one million units the previous year.
Sony, which came under the leadership of its first foreign executive earlier this year in a bid to breathe new life into the ailing company, plans to announce a new business plan on September 22.
In July, Sony announced a group net loss of 7,3-billion yen for the first quarter to June and drastically slashed its forecast for the year, as falling prices of consumer electronics took a heavy toll.
Its operating loss in the television division swelled to 39,2-billion yen for the three months to June, which weighed down its entire earnings.
Sony also announced separately that it would combine its computer game development studios in Japan, North America, Europe and South Korea into one organisation after a decade of operating independently. – AFP