TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony, under pressure to cut costs and roll out hot new products after dismal earnings news, has unveiled a game machine, the "PSX", that puts a TV tuner, DVD recorder and game player in a single box.
It marked the second announcement in two weeks of a new gaming gadget by the world's largest consumer electronics maker, which is eager to inject some of the pizzazz of its best-selling PlayStation 2 into its languishing home electronics line-up.
But Sony remained coy on when it might unveil a whole new generation of game devices to succeed the PlayStation 2, which will finally recoup its huge investment costs this year and has become a profit driver for the company.
"That will be a business decision," Ken Kutaragi, Sony's executive deputy president and head of its game unit, told Reuters when pressed on the subject after a media briefing.
Speculation has heated up on when a new game machine, which many presume will be a "PlayStation 3", may debut.
Several analysts are talking about late 2004 or early 2005, but the company faces some complex calculations as it seeks both to wring profits from the PlayStation 2 for as long as possible and to stay ahead of rivals like Microsoft Corp's Xbox.
The PSX, which will include a hard-disk drive and broadcast satellite tuner, is due for launch in Japan this year and in Europe and the United States early next year as an all-in-one entertainment device for games, music and moving pictures.
Earlier this month Sony unveiled the "PSP" hand-held game machine, to be launched by the end of 2004, which spurred a tumble in the shares of GameBoy maker Nintendo.
TO PS3, OR NOT PS3?
Wednesday's strategy briefing with Sony's top brass offered no new clues, however, on possible factory closures or job cuts to yield the cost savings Sony has promised from its vast manufacturing base in Japan.
"We hope to come up with comprehensive details before speculation gets out of hand," Sony President and Chief Operating Officer Kunitake Ando told the briefing. "We would like to announce final plans before October."
Analysts and investors say such restructuring efforts are as vital as hit products if Sony is to secure respectable profits.
"The ball is firmly in their court because I think they can do a lot on the cost side, which they haven't started doing," said Jeremy Hall, associate director of Japanese equities at Henderson Global Investors (Japan) KK.
"If they started surprising on that front, then you could easily make a much more bullish case on Sony."
Sony rattled investors a month ago by posting its biggest quarterly net loss in more than eight years, far worse than the market's expectations, and warning that operating profit in the year to next March would slip to its lowest in nine years.
Sony lost one-fourth of its market value in the two days after the April earnings announcement and its share price has since languished near seven-year lows.
The shares ended Wednesday trade unchanged at 3,000 yen, underperforming a 1.7 percent rise in the Tokyo Stock Exchange's electrical machinery index.
The briefing began after the Tokyo share market closed.
Sony Chairman Nobuyuki Idei said his company ended talks with overseas firms, which included Dutch insurer Aegon NV, on a possible equity stake in its life insurance unit.
He added Sony would consider splitting its financial businesses, which include an online bank, into a separate unit for possible alliances or an initial public offering.
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Source:
Reuters
