Technology Blog

Sony Corp. will start selling 3-D televisions and Blu-ray disc players this summer, part of a plan by Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer to go “all out” to seize control of the market.

“Better to go all out, better to take the risk,” Stringer said today at a briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “We are working at a different pace from the Sony of some years ago.”

The Tokyo-based company, which trails Samsung Electronics Co. in total TV sales, plans to sell nine 3-D models of Bravia televisions and a Blu-ray player in mid-2010. Stringer is betting that 3-D products will generate more than 1 trillion yen ($11 billion) in the year ending March 2013, not counting content. Samsung plans to sell similar products this year.

“Competition in the global television market is extremely tough and everyone is looking to win a leading share in 3-D devices,” said Nobuo Kurahashi, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The marketing strategy at the beginning will likely give a significant impact in determining who’s going to be the leader of the new market.”

Samsung plans to begin selling 3-D TVs and Blu-ray players starting this year, said Yoon Boo Keun, president of the South Korean company’s visual-display division. LG Electronics Inc., the world’s No. 2 LCD TV maker, said last month it aims to sell 400,000 units of 3-D TVs this year.

Panasonic Corp. will start selling 3-D plasma models in the U.S. as early as the spring, said Kyoko Ishii, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for the Osaka, Japan, company.

The 3-D display market will post annual revenue growth of 38 percent, climbing to $22 billion by 2018, according to research firm DisplaySearch.

Sony’s U.S. shares fell 5 cents to $29.80 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock gained 33 percent last year.