The quote, from Italy’s Il Sole 24 Ore, is a sort of sad double entendre: The question is set up as a broad query about the state of the consumer electronics industry, but Stringer’s answer sounds more like an off-record confession about his own company than a cool assessment of its industry. From Sony’s point of view, the CE industry hasn’t started to turn around; from Sony’s point of view, Sony hasn’t started to turn around: whichever was meant, these aren’t the most reassuring words to hear from the head honcho of one of the largest electronics companies in the world.

Anyway, cheer up Howard! People will buy your consoles to play games and sim-kill civilian hostages for Christmas! It’s how things are. [Reuters via Digital Daily]

Between a general leeriness towards AT&T and spectacularly huge numbers involved, the whole thing sounds a little conspiratorial. Thing is, the price-fixing definitely happened:

South Korea’s LG Display Co., Sharp Corp. and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. agreed last November to pay $US585 million in criminal fines in a U.S. Justice Department probe of illegally price fixing on LCDs used in flat-screen televisions, mobile phones and other devices.

This lawsuit is less about AT&T proving that some of the biggest LCD manufacturers in the world have been gouging them (and in turn, their customers) than it is about getting some kind of compensation for said gouging, which has apparently been driving up prices of phones for quite a while now.

I mean, probably not by more than a few cents apiece, but still! Outrage! [WSJ]

Levinson was, until recently, the Chairman and CEO of genetic research firm Genentec. But lately, he’s been spending a little more time on other projects — namely, sitting as a Corporate Director for both Apple and Google. The FTC made it pretty clear back in May that they were uncomfortable with such cosy ties between companies that are increasingly working on the same stuff, at the same time—phones software, web services, and now even OSes—so Levinson’s resignation firmly qualifies as “kinda tardy”.

What interesting this time around is that this time around, the companies were essentially fighting for talent: As CEO, Schmidt was obviously going with the home team. Levinson, though? He was a free agent. Score one for Apple, I guess. And score 10 for the FTC. [AllThingsD]

Music royalty groups ASCAP and BMI are harassing online music stores such as iTunes to pay performance fees not only for the songs that they sell, but for the short clips that they use as previews. You know, the things that entice people to pay for music. They want to be paid for advertisements of their product.

Just how backwards is this industry? How many years can they continue to just not get it in such an extreme way? You would have thought that maybe it would have taken a few years for them to figure out the internet, but we’re way beyond that. This entire industry seems to be run by people who don’t just not understand the internet, but are aggressive about not understanding the internet. They have their old way of doing business and the old way the world works, and they’ll be damned if any new fangled thing like a complete upheaval in the way people acquire and listen to music is going to change that.

It’d almost be funny if the people who were really being harmed by these jackasses weren’t the artists. Bands aren’t the ones pushing for something that will only end with their best form of advertising being pulled from the iTunes Music Store (because make no mistake, that’s what will happen before Apple pays for f–king song clips). It’s these royalties idiots, the same people who almost killed off Pandora.

So here’s the bottom line, guys: You’re doing it wrong. And you’ve been doing it wrong for a while. You need to figure out a new way of doing business, and that doesn’t mean just shifting fees around and charging where you clearly shouldn’t be charging. Earn your paychecks, because unlike the bands you purport to be representing, you’re still getting them. [CNET via Electronista]

Sony’s suffered through management shakeups and a lack of vision lately, and while this specific news is a little industry-insider, it will definitely have an effect on the juggernaut’s product lineup. Sony may well leave certain sections of the industry behind, most probably their Sony Ericsson imprint, but Sony’s pretty much getting kicked around on all fronts. They’re a legendary company and they’re not going anywhere, but we really hope they change their ways and start busting out some exciting, groundbreaking new products like back in the glory days. [New York Times]

In Sony’s earnings report, CFO Nobuyuki Oneda noted that their costs are still 10 percent higher than the PS3’s price—if he’s talking about Japan’s retail, that means they’re losing 40 US bucks per console.

Even Microsoft, who was originally losing $US126 per 360, has been making money on every Xbox sold for a while now. Poor Sony. Just think of everything you could buy with $US40, like a day with Rachel Ray. [Adriansang via Joystiq Image: Flickr/Shagy6six6]

Terrifyingly beautiful. [Bouncing Red Ball]

In Garmin’s own words, here are some of the benefits of having the company set up shop down under:

Garmin decided to open its doors in Australia as we wanted to work more closely with our dealers, to gain a better understanding of the market in Australia and of course to improve our market share across all of our divisions – automotive, fitness, handheld and marine. We believe we can offer end-users a variety of additional benefits by being based in Australia including:
 
A customer service team trained by Garmin Head Quarters in all technical aspects of Garmin’s products only. Customers can be assured when they contact our Product Support Specialists that their sole focus is on Garmin products and that their knowledge is not split amongst a variety of brands.
 
Increased distribution of product over time due to the Garmin dedicated sales team, therefore making it easier for consumers to purchase Garmin products.
 
Over time consumers should find many of Garmin’s products more affordable as we undergo price re-positioning.
 
Ability to begin offering Australian consumers the full range of Garmin products, rather than selective products.
 
Increased education and awareness of the Garmin brand and its products through a variety of methods such as advertising, sponsorship and public relations due to the Garmin dedicated marketing staff.

Garmin have always had really good products  especially in the satnav space, but have struggled a bit with market share in Australia. Whether opening offices in Australia will change that is anyones guess, but I’d say there’s a pretty good chance.