Japan Quake Could Delay Sony NGP Launch

Kris Erickson • Mar 16, 2011 • Comments ()

Tokyo's financial district is also in disarray, with many executives and their families temporarily relocating outside of the city amid food shortages, electrical blackouts and safety concerns, the BBC reported.

Cleanup and recovery efforts are expected to take months. While this occurs, it is likely that Japan's manufacturers will struggle to get back to full capacity.

Video games are of course a trivial concern next to the real human costs of this disaster. However, it is likely that consumer electronics makers like Sony will be negatively effected by the tsunami, and this could delay release of upcoming products.

Among those is Sony's NGP (Next-generation portable) video game device. Slated for release sometime this fall, the product was only recently revealed to consumers by Sony earlier this year. Access to components such as batteries, flash memory, processors and OLED screens could delay the company's plans to launch during the busy holiday shopping period.

"It's too early to tell when we can restart output," Hiroshi Okubo, a Sony spokesman told Bloomberg. It' is clear that any Japanese economic recovery remains closely tied to the humanitarian one.

Sony's NGP uses a wide array of components from other Japanese manufacturers.

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The devastating humanitarian crisis in Japan is expected to have severe global economic implications as well. Analysts at Credit Suisse said Tuesday that they expect the total cost of the disaster to exceed US\$175 billion, making it the most expensive in history. A number of major Japanese manufacturers including Sony have been impacted by the quake and tsunami. Car maker Toyota closed 3 factories in the wake of disaster, while Nissan and Honda have also reported plant closures. Besides the direct effects of destruction on factories located in the North of Japan, firms also face major disruptions to the supply chain caused by the breakdown of transportation and electrical infrastructure. Since Monday, shares in Sony (NYSE: SNE) have plunged more than 10% to a \$30.90 USD. \n\nTokyo's financial district is also in disarray, with many executives and their families temporarily relocating outside of the city amid food shortages, electrical blackouts and safety concerns, the BBC reported. \n\nCleanup and recovery efforts are expected to take months. While this occurs, it is likely that Japan's manufacturers will struggle to get back to full capacity. \n\nVideo games are of course a trivial concern next to the real human costs of this disaster. However, it is likely that consumer electronics makers like Sony will be negatively effected by the tsunami, and this could delay release of upcoming products.\n\nAmong those is Sony's NGP (Next-generation portable) video game device. Slated for release sometime this fall, the product was only recently revealed to consumers by Sony earlier this year. Access to components such as batteries, flash memory, processors and OLED screens could delay the company's plans to launch during the busy holiday shopping period.\n\n\"It's too early to tell when we can restart output,\" Hiroshi Okubo, a Sony spokesman told Bloomberg. It' is clear that any Japanese economic recovery remains closely tied to the humanitarian one.\n\n\n
\n\n\n $\"SONY-NGP-picture.png\"$ \n\nSony's NGP uses a wide array of components from other Japanese manufacturers.\n\n\n
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