Sony e-reader to ship late
Sony had a chance to help its consumer electronics image, but now it can't guarantee its e-reader by Christmas.
The management at Sony (SNE) looks more and more like “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.”
Its TV screen business is losing money. Most months, sales of the PS3 fall behind those of the Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Sony appears to have a promising new product in its Daily Edition Reader, the company’s e-reader offering. The device puts it into competition with market leader Amazon (AMZN) and its popular Kindle, but Sony still has the consumer electronics brand power to be a force in the e-book industry.
It would be nice if Sony could get its product out for the holidays.
The Wall Street Journal suggested that readers who look at the e-reader section of SonyStyle.com will find that the product can be pre-ordered but will not ship until some time between December 18 and January 8 -- and even then “actual delivery date cannot be guaranteed.”
Sony has a history of disappointing investors, which may be caused by its history of disappointing customers. The battle for e-reader market share will not be entirely won or lost this holiday, but the efforts by Amazon and Barnes & Noble (BKS) to gain customers during the high point of the annual retail season are already considerable. The Kindle is being promoted on the home page of Amazon.com and the Barnes & Noble “Nook” is the featured product at the barnesandnoble.com site.
Research firm Forrester recently raised its forecast of holiday e-reader sales to 3 million from 2 million. Sony is risking what could be as many as a few hundred thousand sales by not being able to guarantee shipment of its product before Christmas.
This holiday might have offered Sony a chance to improve its reputation which is now one of being a consumer electronics “also ran”. Instead, it will only add to its own history of disappointing customers.
Top Stocks writer Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
Related stories:
MSN is owned by Microsoft
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
STOCK SCOUTER
StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.
126 | 258 | 459 | 600 | 671 | 683 | 602 | 455 | 271 | 113 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
LATEST POSTS
Try as the bears might, they couldn't break US stocks. But investors still face frothy prices and considerable headwinds.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.