The Japanese Company who was recently forced into third place in the US flat panel TV market, behind Visio and Samsung has said that their joint venture with Samsung was difficult and contributed to their losses.

Executive Deputy President of Sony, Hiroshi Yoshioka said "Samsung was a competitor "and that Sony had, had difficulties dealing with them.

While LED-backlit TVs have proven to be a success for Samsung, Sony may try to fight back by focusing on producing larger organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions. They are also set to partner with Sharp Japanese Company, as opposed to Samsung who are a Korean Company.

Yoshioka has said by the year ending March 2013, between a third and half of all Sony' television sets sold will include 3D features. He also claimed that a key issue contributing to the company's losses in the TV business is its reliance on third party manufacturers for panels.

This comment puts him at odds with Sir Howard Stringer who recently sacked over 16,000 Sony employees, closed eight factories and moved to manufacturing Sony Bravia TV's by third party manufacturers as opposed to Sony producing their own TV's.

Sony already produces 11-inch OLED TV which is selling in Australia for $6,999 as opposed to $2,499 in the USA.

In a frank admission Yoshioka said that Sony engineers are experiencing hurdles while trying to produce larger panels. Until Sony can offer a full sized OLED television, the company will look for opportunities with 3D.