Low TV market share hurts Sony

Sony reported a quarterly loss earlier today, which was widely expected in the market. The loss of $65 million is the second straight unprofitable quarter for the consumer electronics giant. Paving the way for the negative financials is a decreasing market share in the television space.

The Sony WEGA line is arguably one of the best television lines on the market. Unfortunately, due to decreasing costs and increased competition, Sony continues to lose market share. According to an analyst at Mitsubishi Securities Co., "Sony's domestic TV market share is near an all-time low as it loses share to Matsushita's plasma displays and Sharp's LCD
TVs."

Watch for Howard Stringer, the new Sony CEO, to aggressively address these issues. He's reportedly given himself 100 days to plan a turn-around. With stiff competition from so many electronics vendors, he's got a huge task ahead. In the growing digital television market, the stiff competition will only get tougher.