Sony faces another glitch, this time in Cameras

Sony Corp., which is already in trouble due to its faulty lithium ion batteries and production glitches that raised questions about the quality of its consumer products, on Friday, announced one more production glitch related to its Cyber-shot digital camera models.

The Tokyo-based electronics maker said it found defects in eight of its Cyber-shot digital camera models including the DSC-F88, DSC-M1, DSC-T1, DSC-T11, DSC-T3, DSC-T33, DSC-U40 and the DSC-U50, sold between September 2003 and January 2005.

Sony said the affected digital cameras might not work in warm and humid areas. The cameras may have trouble taking photos and pictures may be distorted on the display screen, it said.

This is not the first time Sony facing such problem with cameras, rather, last year same problem affected as many as 20 models of its digital and video cameras.

As per Sony estimates, around 4,000 cameras are expected to be defective. The company will repair the entire affected cameras for free of charge.

Sony has struggled throughout the year to retain its top position as the leading consumer electronics firm. It faced difficulties in the production segment due to component shortage, and malfunction in its flagship PlayStation 3 gaming console, delaying the shipments of his high-profit PlayStation home video game system.

The woes of the Japanese multinational corporation did not end here, in summer, it faced severe worldwide criticism for its faulty batteries used by the laptop makers in their systems. Sony-made faulty lithium ion batteries are responsible for the biggest recall in consumer electronics history. Major computer makers including Dell and Toshiba recalled up to 9.6 million laptops using such batteries.

The company is forced to spend $440 million in replacing laptop batteries involved in the historic recall.

Sony is also facing a rigid competition in the flat panel television market from the Samsung and other newer entrants, who are coming forward with their state-of-the-art panels in the market.

Last month it also forecasted its lowest annual profit in five years. The company's stock has slumped 4.6 percent this year.

Company’s spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa informed that the affected cameras are the determined factor for about 0.4% of Sony's digital camera sales in Japan.

However, Sony is not expecting this to affect its annual profit. Sony shares fell 1.9 percent on Friday.