The financial news at Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) just won't stop raining red. The world's second-largest consumer electronics company reported a 47.4% drop in profit for its first quarter. The disappointing quarter was partially blamed on lower cellular handset sales from its part in the Sony Ericsson joint venture, but there's more here.

Sony's CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, continues to be someone who just doesn't get it. Sure, he's made smaller cultural changes at the electronics maker, but it's being eaten alive in the flat-panel television segment by competitors like Samsung and Vizio. Sony did say that flat-panel TV sales were down in China, although it did not comment about other regions that may have seen a dip.

With the economy in the U.S. in a precarious position, it would be interesting to see what flat-panel TV makers were selling more TVs than Sony beyond the above-mentioned brands that seem to have better marketing and lower prices than the Japanese icon. In terms of portable electronics, Sony's grasp on maintaining proprietary storage formats on its digital cameras and others make it a laughing stock in the tech consumer world.

And then Stringer tells the world that the Nintendo Ltd. (OTC: NTDOY) Wii is a "niche gaming device." Is Stringer completely out to lunch? The Sony Playstation 3 is a niche device that just happens to have a Blu-ray disc player in it (which is the unit's saving grace among non-gamers). The Wii continues pummeling the Playstation 3 in monthly sales, which could not be done by a "niche" device. Sony will continue to be marginalized in certain product segments if its head honcho and corporate culture continue seeing the competition in such menial terms.