So much for East Asian production efficiency and Japanese business cunning: According to a Reuters
This production snafu could not come at a worse time for Sony. As Reuters correctly pointed out, sales of flat panel TVs are picking up as their prices inch down (and these two trends are certainly related.) Roughly 30% of all consumer electronics dollars this Christmas season are expected to go to television sales, and flat panel TVs are the "hot" item in the AV segment this year.
Considering the still-large size of the price tags attached to flat panel TVs, making sales this month may well turn out to be a "now or never" proposition -- or at least a "now or Christmas 2005, by which time I hope to have paid off my American Express
Who will benefit from Sony's misstep? Reuters points to local favorite Philips
For more Fool news on developments in the LCD/plasma industry, read:
Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any of the companies mentioned in this article.