A convenient excuse?

Sony has reported in excess of a $1 Billion loss for the previous financial year and have credited it to the current financial crisis the globe finds itself in:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8050636.stm

There is some reading between the lines to be done here. The past 3 years have seen Sony's overall position in the consumer electronics market erode massively. The win in the Blueray versus HD-DVD battle is the only ray of sunshine in the recent past. PS3 continues to lose out to Nintendo Wii in lots of key areas, even xBox has gained significantly on a overpriced and technically expensive PS3. This isn't credit crunch manifestation, Sony has been losing similar amounts in the preceding financial years.

Looking from the outside there are a good many businesses that have found it all too easy to wrap poor product and market decisions into the credit crunch to account for poor sales and a lacklustre market reception. The truth is that a lot of corporations have lived in the here and now and haven't given a thought to the market transitions that come around as economies change. PS3 looked expensive at the start, even more so now, so is the right response to lower the retail price as Sony are muting or increase the offering for the same price (more for the same amount of money) and try and create a higher value retail purchase for the consumer?

Answers on a post card to Sony ....