At the other end of town competitors like Samsung and Panasonic are investing millions into the hiring of staff in an effort to expand their Australian operations at the expense of Sony.
Today's retrenchments come as the Australian operation of the once mighty Japanese Consumer Electronics Company struggles to hold onto market share in several markets including the highly competitive TV flat panel display market where during the past 12 months the Company has resorted to giving away millions of dollars worth of Sony PS3 consoles and Blu ray players in an effort to boost sales of the Bravia LCD TV range.
They are also struggling in the gaming market where the PS3 which is some $110 dollars dearer than the same product in the USA is wallowing in the #3 slot with both Microsoft and Nintendo with their Wii console taking market share away from Sony Computer Entertainment.
Now Sony is under pressure from video-game publishers to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 console or risk seeing more development funds shift to Nintendo's Wii.
While Panasonic Australia is claiming that they have had "the best year ever" in Australia, two weeks out from the end of the Japanese financial year Samsung is hiring senior staff in an effort to expand both their consumer electronics operations and their IT and commercial Pro AV divisions.
