Sony is facing a further downturn in profits as the company struggles from the impact of the recent earthquake in Japan, attacks by Anonymous, and the delay in the launch of several new products.The company has already said that their Blu ray production has been hit and that they have delayed the launch of the Sony Ericsson Xperia line of Android smartphones. Also tipped to be hit is the release of the new Sony, NGP portable game system.
In February Sony said that stiff price competition in the flat-screen TV market and the strong Japanese yen hurt profits at Sony in the last three months of 2010.
Analysts are now tipping profits could be further hit, due to the recent earthquake, and as Sony TV sales slow and the company is forced into discounting in an effort to hit forecast production volumes with third party companies making their Bravia TVs.
At the weekend Internet activist group ‘Anonymous’ warned Sony that the worst is yet to come, describing its recent attacks on the Sony Playstation network was set to get worse as they mount further attacks in support of Play Station 3 cracker George Hotz.
Anonymous said that past attacks were mere “poking and prodding”, they said ‘The Worst Is Yet To Come’ for Sony.
Sony’s consumer, professional and devices division, which includes its TV business, saw profits plunge 47 percent as the company was forced to cut the price of LCD televisions to match competitors.
A slowdown in demand for its PlayStation 3 console and PlayStation Portable hit sales at its networked products and services division, which fell 6 percent. Sony shifted 6.3 million PS3s during the quarter, down from 6.5 million during the year-earlier period. PSP sales dropped from 4.2 million units to 3.6 million units.
