Anilrgowda

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's biggest maker of video-game machines, said it expects to meet PlayStation 3 shipment targets this year, two weeks after production delays prompted the replacement of the console's creator.
The company will ship 2 million players by Dec. 31 to the U.S. and Japan, President Ryoji Chubachi told reporters in Tokyo today. Ken Kutaragi, the PlayStation's founder, was removed from daily management on Dec. 1 after a parts shortage forced the company to cut its goal from 4 million.
``Availability has been a bottleneck,'' Chubachi said. ``But those targets are achievable. I don't think we need to revise our shipment targets.''
Meeting the projection would help restore investor confidence in Sony and its Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer after the company forecast its lowest profit in five years. Sony, which has lost half its market value since 2000, today reiterated its plan to ship six million PlayStation 3s by March 31.
``The company can meet the target,'' for PS3 shipments, said Seiichiro Iwamoto, who oversees about $260 million at Fuji Investment Management Co. in Tokyo. ``Sony provides good games and is tapping the console's online function to reestablish its game business, that's more important.'' He declined to say whether he owned Sony stock.
Shares Gain
Shares of Sony rose 1.8 percent to 4,970 yen as of the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo, compared with a 1 percent advance in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. The stock has gained 5.1 percent in the past six months.
Credit-default swaps based on 10 million yen of Sony bonds traded at 16,500 yen, the lowest since July 2005, unchanged from yesterday, according to prices from Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. A drop in the cost of the contracts, which have declined about 37 percent in the past six months, indicates improvement in the perceived creditworthiness of the company.
Sony missed its goals for the game consoles in the U.S. last month, researcher NPD Group Inc. said Dec. 7. Nintendo Co.'s Wii outsold PlayStation 3 by more than 2-to-1 in the first weeks of the Christmas holiday shopping season.
The PlayStation 3, introduced in the U.S. on Nov. 17, sold 197,000 units, falling short of Sony's 400,000 goal. The Wii, which made its debut two days later, sold 476,000 units, Port Washington, New York-based NPD said on Dec. 8.
Europe Debut
Sony will start selling the player in Europe ``as soon as possible,'' Chubachi, 59, said. The company has said sales will start from March.
While the PlayStation 3 sells for as much as $600, more than twice the cost of the Wii, it is attracting customers with its graphics, online gaming features and Blu-ray DVD player. The Wii is luring users with its $250 price and a motion-sensor that enables them to play virtual tennis and golf.
Kyoto-based Nintendo aims to ship more than one million units to the U.S. by the end of this year.
Sony on Oct. 20 cut its full-year net income forecast to a five-year low of 80 billion yen ($688 million), from an earlier estimate of 130 billion yen. The reduction was caused by the PlayStation 3 delay and price cuts and a battery recall that was the largest in the history of consumer electronics.