Sony Profits Drop 5 Pct on PS3 Cost

Sony Profits Drop 5 Pct on PS3 Cost: "Sony's quarterly profit dipped 5 percent as huge costs for launching its PlayStation 3 video game console offset a recovery in its electronics business.
But in an optimistic sign, the Japanese manufacturer raised its full-year earnings forecast Tuesday, saying that booming Christmas sales in digital cameras and flat-panel TVs outpaced earlier targets.
Group net profit at Sony Corp. (SNE) for the three months through December slipped to 159.9 billion yen ($1.3 billion) from 168.9 billion yen the same period a year earlier.
The electronics and entertainment company behind the Walkman portable player and 'Spider-Man' movies said quarterly sales jumped 9.8 percent to 2.61 trillion yen ($21.4 billion).
Sony embarked on a turnaround effort under its first foreigner chief executive, Welsh-born American Howard Stringer, who took the helm in 2005. It has dropped unprofitable businesses, sold off assets, reduced jobs and closed plants.
For the last several years, Sony's biggest problem was long in its core electronics business, where it fell behind Apple Inc. (AAPL) and its iPod portable music player and Samsung Electronics Co.'s flat-panel TV business.
Sony was dealt another blow last year when it announced a massive global recall of about 10 million lithium-ion batteries used in not only its own laptops but also Apple, Dell Inc. (DELL), Lenovo and others."