The Times doesn’t get super specific about what they mean by major divisions—Walkman? PlayStation? That kind of sacred but highly unprofitable cow?—but do say that the restructuring will “abolish or fundamentally alter many of Sony’s long-established business practices,” meaning we could be seeing a very different Sony emerge next month.

What it will look like, though, is anyone’s guess. Sony, for the record, denies any such plans existing, though a) these kinds of denials typically don’t mean a whole lot and b) this kind of deep restructuring may be just what Sony needs. [Times Online via Reuters via Kotaku]

Consumer electronics are always hit harder than average in tight times, but massive drop confirms what my various visits at barely-busy big box retailers led me to suspect. But what else can we find in this data? And is it really as bad as it looks?

First of all, the category that fell by 27% is titled “Electronics/Appliances”, so it’s possible that things are OK in Gadgetland, and pure carnage in Whirlpoolville. But probably not. Second, the data shows a inverse correlation between a drop in sales and utility. This isn’t to say that gadgets are superfluous luxury items—you won’t hear that here—but rather that the other categories like, you know, shoes, contain products that probably take priority over USB humping dogs and Monster cables.

Oh well. Expect to hear plenty more about these numbers when Q4 earnings reports start trickling out, like tears of disappointment onto so many plimsolls. [WSJ]

[ABC]

CNET decided that HP, the world’s leading manufacturer, will best be able to survive. A full third of its revenue comes from software, services, and enterprise storage, which won’t take as big of a hit as consumer hardware. Their hardware is well balanced from consumer up to large businesses, including servers, storage, and printers as well as laptops and desktops. CNET does predict that VoodooPC isn’t going to cut it, but that’s a minor problem compared to HP’s strengths.

Dell’s move to services, software, and storage is helping it as well, and the company’s move to China and India is a smart one. But Dell has recently undergone a change of direction with its smaller notebooks, and may have to scramble to figure out what sells in a depressed economy.

Acer has been sacrificing money for marketshare by aggressively pricing its netbook line, and may have to cut staff to make up for its losses.

According to CNET, Lenovo is totally screwed. They reported a quarterly loss of 78%, and is more focused on business than consumer lines. They’re still doing fine in China but not so hot here in the States.

This is all guesswork, since nobody knows what the economy will look like next week, let alone two years in the future. And nobody’s sure what’s going to happen to the buying habits of computer users, or the market for business PCs. But I think the analysis on HP and Acer is dead-on: HP has the money and the depth to adapt to a changing market, but Acer will have to make all the right moves to stay competitive. [CNET]

Let us be very clear. These reduced earnings expectations reflect the unprecedented tumult in the financial services industry, which has reduced consumer spending across the board in retail. The outstanding work of our 165,000 employees doesn’t make us immune to our environment. We can’t change the overall level of consumer spending, but we can focus on deepening our relationships with customers wherever we interact with them: in our stores, on our Web sites and through our call centers

You can read the entire memo over at Consumerist, but it seems to read something like “Smile! You may not be getting a bonus this year, but you might just keep your job.” [Consumerist and CNN]