Sony Corp

Sony Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a pocket-size electronic book reader for less than $200, which the electronics giant touted as the "most affordable dedicated reading device on the market." Dubbed the Sony Reader Pocket Edition, the new device has enough internal memory to hold about 350 books, comes in three colors -- blue, rose and silver -- and has a 5-inch "electronic ink" display, which shows dark gray text on a lighter gray background.

Just when Sony Corp. appears to have turned around its electronics business, another part of its sprawling empire -- video games -- is dragging down profit. The Japanese electronics and entertainment company Tuesday blamed the launching costs of its PlayStation 3 game console for much of the 5% drop in profit for the last three months of 2006 to 159.9 billion yen ($1.3 billion). The PS3 launched in the United States and Japan in November.

Joel Downs is the type of video game buff that Sony Corp. expected to fall for the PlayStation 3. The 32-year-old Culver City entrepreneur is tech savvy, loves his PlayStation 2 and has the money to afford an upgrade. But Downs is holding out. "There's no compelling reason for me to buy it," he said. "There aren't enough good games for it. And it's too expensive." The PS2 has been a runaway hit and profit machine for Sony since its introduction in 2000.

Sony Corp.'s attempts to turn around its electronics business paid big dividends during the holiday season, putting the company solidly in the black with record results in a quarter in which it had warned of a loss. Strong sales of Sony's new Bravia liquid crystal display TVs and its popular PlayStation Portable hand-held game system fueled an 18% rise in fiscal third-quarter profit, to $1.4 billion. Revenue also hit a record, climbing 10% to $20.1 billion.

Shares of Sony Corp., the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, fell early today in Japan after a report by Merrill Lynch & Co. said the release of the PlayStation 3 video game console might be delayed until as late as next year. The shares fell as much as 4.4% and ended the morning session down 2.2% at 5,380 yen ($45.57) in Tokyo. Sony, which had planned to start selling the console in Japan in the second quarter this year, may introduce the player there in the fall and in the U.S.

It's no coincidence that Sony Corp. scheduled tonight's unveiling of its new video game player at its historic Culver City studio, where such classics as "Ben-Hur" and "Singin' in the Rain" were filmed. PlayStation 3 is more than just a game machine for Sony: It's the Japanese conglomerate's attempt to define the connection between entertainment and technology in the 21st century the way movies did in the 20th.

Sony Corp. swung to a better-than-expected operating profit in its fiscal first quarter, propelled by robust sales of LCD televisions and digital cameras, a sign that its recovery is on track. A weaker yen also helped the electronics and entertainment conglomerate offset valuation losses at its life insurance unit and start-up costs for its PlayStation 3 game console. The Tokyo-based company's U.S.-traded shares rose 6% after the earnings were released.

Nobuyuki Idei, the former chief executive of Sony Corp., said Monday that Japan's consumer electronics industry was "dying" and called for companies to adapt to new consumer demands. Idei, who has spent more than four decades at Sony, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, said companies should focus on combining technologies and applications to sustain growth and expand. Idei is still Sony's chief corporate advisor and will stay with the company until May.

Sony Corp. punctuated its recovery by swinging to a profit for the January-March quarter as it reduced losses from its PlayStation 3 video game business. Strong sales of flat-panel televisions and digital cameras also helped nearly triple annual profit to a record, the electronics and entertainment company said Wednesday. But Sony joined Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. in forecasting lower profit for the fiscal year through March 2009, citing the strong yen's erosion of overseas earnings.

Sony Corp. Chief Executive Howard Stringer acknowledged that he had not gone far enough with cost cuts and efforts to combine entertainment with electronics as his company projected its first annual loss in 14 years. "More has to be done and more can get done," Stringer said at Sony's Tokyo headquarters. "We have a long way to go." Sony said it would offer early retirement to employees at its TV division, seeking to trim personnel costs there by 30%. It is also slashing jobs at its movie, music and game businesses.