Sony making huge comebacks with 3-D TV and playstation move
Reinforcing market analysts’ speculation that Sony stands poised to stage a major comeback, the consumer electronics giant this week delivered two major announcements, putting the competition on notice that it will contend for market dominance. On Tuesday, March 9, the company reported that it will begin sales of 3D televisions. On Wednesday, March 10, Sony officials introduced “Playstation Move,” the company’s aggressive foray into the world of motion controllers.
Going head-to-head with television rival Samsung, Sony will send 3D televisions to market in June, and company officials said they expect 3D models will account for at least ten per cent of their sales in their current fiscal year. Sony forecast total LCD-TV sales at just over 25 million. Long-time Sony-watchers believe Sony envisions a multi-faceted entertainment operation, building on its gaming, music, and movie businesses, setting itself apart from upstarts LG and Samsung, which continue to produce only hardware.
Yoshihisa Ishida, a high-ranking Sony executive, told reporters Tuesday, “Sony will liberate 3D from the confines of movie theatres and make it something that people can enjoy at home.” Other Sony executives, including CEO Howard Stringer, recently have told the press they expect 3D to boost not only television sales, but also Blu-ray DVD players, gaming stations, and digital cameras.
Right in step with the 3D announcement, Sony officials seized the opportunity at the San Francisco conference of Game Developers to strip the wraps off “Playstation Move,” which may enter some markets at the same time as 3D televisions and will go into widespread distribution in the fall of 2010. They said Playstation Move will be sold both as a stand-alone product and in a bundle with the entire Playstation 3 system.
Giving voice to Sony’s high hopes, Peter Dille, the company’s senior vice-president in charge of marketing, told game developers the new motion controller is “fast, precise, and accurate. We like to think this is the next generation of motion-gaming.” More importantly, Dille added, “We’re really approaching this as a platform launch.”
