Things had been going well for Sony's shareholders after the appointment of Howard Stringer as the new CEO. But, then things started to fall apart, again.

Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) makes the batteries for the laptops from companies like Dell, which as you know are being recalled due to overheating and fires. Sony is also being damaged by concerned that its new PlayStation 3 will launch late. To complicate the competitive landscape, Microsoft has been updating its XBox gaming system and upping its marketing spending. Sony's shares have dropped from about $53 in late April to $39 yesterday.

Under Mr. Stringer it would appear that little has improved, despite the initial optimism of his appointment. The recent bad news could also hurt the company financially, with the battery recall cost hitting as much as $500 million.

Sony is not longer viewed as the engineering powerhouse it once was, introducing innovative products virtually every year. That mantle seems to have passed to Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

With Sony on a spiral down, perhaps Apple will learn something about the road ahead.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

More fallout from the flaming battery debacle. Today, The Associated Press reports, (picked up by A-list consumer tech blog engadget,) that the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is putting the blame squarely back on Apple. The trade powerful ministry has ordered Apple's Japanese subsidiary to get to the bottom of the battery fiasco by September 5th, or the company could face a fine of up to ¥300,000 ($2,570) under local consumer safety laws. It's unclear whether the fine is per day per laptop or a one-time fine. Obviously, there's a huge difference.

On the surface, we all knew that it was Japan's venerable consumer electronics company SONY that was culpable for the faulty batteries and the millions of laptops recalled by Apple and Dell. Still, those who know anything about doing business in that country will know that METI is a not-so-silent partner in promoting Japanese business and companies. Hence, today's news.

Is this a line dance? Last week, Dell's recall of 4.1 billion Sony-manufactured laptop batteries must have sent every laptop manufacturer scurrying to their quality control department. I should have just gone ahead and bought the domain, "applebatteryrecall.com" right then, because here it is 10 days later and guess who's recalling Sony batteries now?

Yep, Apple. The cutest of all computer companies only has 1.8 million batteries as a part of its recall, from 12" iBook G4, 12" PowerBook G4 and 15" PowerBook G4 laptops sold between October 2003 and August 2006 in the U.S. Unfortunately for the headline writers, no Apple laptops actually caught fire, although two consumers did receive minor burns when their laptop overheated.

While no one likes a recall, it doesn't seem as if either Apple or Dell will feel it on the bottom line; and, in fact, Apple stock is up a tick on the news, 21 cents, to $67.52. Sony Corp (SNE), on the other hand, is down nearly 3% to $43.27.

[Photo courtesy Dat Nguyen]