Sony unveils prototype virtual reality headset for Playstation

SAN FRANCISCO - Sony Corp unveiled a prototype for a new virtual reality headset accessory for its Playstation 4 games console on Tuesday at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, as it bids to further acceptance of the concept.

The headset, still in development under the name "Project Morpheus", is designed to provide an immersive experience for gamers by projecting a virtual reality image in front of their eyes that shifts as it tracks the movement of their head.

Sony has been eager to popularise virtual reality goggles, releasing its first "personal 3D viewer" for watching movies in August 2011, but the concept has been slow to catch on among users that rejected it as clunky and gimmicky.

However, Project Morpheus marks the first specialist gaming headset from Sony Computer Entertainment, which has been experimenting with the format since 2010. The president of the division, Shuhei Yoshida, said the company was "encouraged by the enthusiastic response" to similar products from start-ups like Oculus VR and Valve in recent months.

"This is the culmination of our work for three-plus years and realizes our vision of VR for games," said Yoshida at an event at the conference organised by Sony, as he showed off a prototype at a surprise announcement attended by over 350 developers, journalists and game enthusiasts.

The prototype is a black and white headset with a thin strip of blue light on the rim. The headset will be integrated with the PlayStation 4's camera, controller and Move motion sensors, and has stereoscopic sound to immerse users in the games they are playing.

Sony said it would make the headset available to game developers soon. It has not set a date for its release.

Sony had sold 6 million units of its Playstation 4 as of March 2, speeding ahead of its target of 5 million for the fiscal year to the end of this month. The console went on sale on Nov. 29 in the United States, Western Europe and Latin America, around the same time that rival Microsoft Corp 's Xbox One was released. That console topped 3 million units at the end of last year. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Moody's cuts Sony's credit rating to junk

TOKYO – Moody's cut its credit rating on Sony to junk on Monday, saying the Japanese electronics giant had more work to do in repairing its battered balance sheet.

The international ratings agency lowered its view of the company to Ba1 from Baa3, meaning its debt is now seen as below investment grade, a move that threatens to push up Sony's borrowing costs.

"While Sony has made progress in its restructuring and benefits from continued profitability in several of its business segments, it still faces challenges to improve and stabilize its overall profitability," Moody's said in a statement.

"Of primary concern are the challenges facing the company's TV and PC businesses, both of which face intense global competition, rapid changes in technology, and product obsolescence."

The downgrade was the latest to hit Japan's embattled electronics industry – including Sony rivals Sharp and Panasonic – which has continued to lose ground to overseas rivals even as a weak yen helped boost their profitability.

"Sony's profitability is likely to remain weak and volatile, as we expect the majority of its core consumer electronics businesses – such as TVs, mobile, digital cameras and personal computers – to continue to face significant downward earnings pressure," Moody's said.

It added that Sony's popular new PlayStation 4 console would help earnings at its videogames unit, but warned that profitability would likely not top levels seen in previous years. – Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Without grand plans for China, U.S., Sony set to lag in smartphones

TOKYO - Kazuo Hirai's plan to restore Sony Corp to lasting profitability rests in large part on its smartphones leapfrogging rivals to become the world's third-biggest sellers after the Apple iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy series.

But that goal remains some way off. Sony's CEO, installed last year with a brief to turn the serial loss maker around, said on Friday that for now, Sony has no big plans for the world's two largest smartphone markets, China and the United States.

Instead, Hirai said Sony, which aims to rise to third position from its current ranking of seventh, will focus on Europe and its home market in Japan, which collectively account for 60 percent of its smartphone sales.

"Those two are the most important areas for us and we'll put substantial resources there. But not yet for the U.S. and China," Hirai told a gathering of journalists.

"It's not realistic to try to do everything at once. In the U.S. we'll start gradually."

In the U.S., only the fourth-largest carrier T-Mobile US Inc offers Sony smartphones. Meanwhile, Sony has been unable to compete in China with homegrown brands from ZTE to CoolPad despite contracts with the three largest carriers.

Sony is not among the top five smartphone brands in either of those markets, according to research firm IDC. Its global share of the smartphone market was a modest 2.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to research firm Gartner, trailing the likes of LG Electronics Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd as well as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

Hirai has positioned mobile devices as one of the three pillars for a turnaround of the company's electronics unit, which relied on help from a weak yen to post a profit in the latest quarter - its first quarterly profit in two years.

The other two key divisions are games, where the PlayStation 4 console due for launch next month has drawn strong pre-orders, and digital imaging, where Sony dominates the production of image sensors for smartphone cameras.

Against that background, smartphones could end up the weakest link in the strategy.

NOT EXCEPTIONAL

"Their devices are OK but frankly not compelling. They're fine, but they're not exceptional," said Benedict Evans, an independent mobile and telecommunications analyst based in London.

"But the deeper problem is that when you're selling devices made on someone else's platform it's extremely difficult to differentiate."

Even in its home market, where Sony ranked No. 2 in the latest quarter behind Apple, the outlook has become tougher. Last month Japan's largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo Inc, which in its summer campaign favored Sony's Xperia over other domestic brands, struck a deal with Apple to carry the latest iPhone.

Still, Hirai said the Xperia's established reputation in Japan should help to see off the threat from Apple. "We have strong brand recognition here for Xperia's hardware and services," Hirai said.

The company has set a target of selling 42 million smartphones worldwide in the financial year to next March, an increase of 27 percent from a year ago.

In 2012, Samsung shipped 218.2 million Galaxy phones while Apple sold 135.9 million iPhones, according to IDC.  — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com