In the networks products group Sony saw a modest rise in sales of 2 percent as Vaio PCs enjoyed higher sales worldwide. A total of 2.3 million Vaio PCs were sold during the quarter, 600,000 more units than it sold in the last three months of 2008. For the full fiscal year Sony raised its sales forecast by a similar amount to 6.8 million PCs.
The group was hit by lackluster results from its gaming unit, which saw sales of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable fall.
Sales of the PlayStation 2 dropped to 2.1 million units from 2.5 million units a year earlier while the PlayStation Portable saw a drop to 4.2 million from 5.1 million. The launch of a revised PlayStation 3 pushed sales of the console up to 6.5 million units from 4.5 million and cost improvements in manufacturing of the machine helped offset the drop in sales of the PS2 and PSP.
For the full fiscal year Sony cut its PSP sales forecast by a third to 10 million units while raising the PS2 target from 5 million to 7 million consoles on the strength of demand from developing nations. PS3 sales targets were left unchanged at 13 million consoles.
WHITEPAPER
