Sony postpones camera launch due to Thailand floods
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
Photo Via BBC.co.uk
The flooding in Thailand has caused many a Sony camera fans to be sad. Sony announced that it will delay the launch of the NEX-7 camera and the Sony Reflex Alpha 65 indefinitely.
This decision was made by the electronics maker when it had to shutdown production at 2 of its units in Thailand.
Sony is not the only one affected though because two of the biggest hard drive makers Seagate and Western Digital also announced possible delays.
The disaster was of course unprecedented and Toshiba also suspended manufacturing of hard disks due to the flooding.
Tim Cook said in an interview on Tuesday that there will possibly be an industry shortage of hard drives and disk drives –affecting Apple’s production as well.
Sony camera fans should not worry though because George Boyd, spokesman for the electronics giant told the BBC that Sony is working very hard towards restoring production.
In the meantime, Boyd said, the company is dealing with this delay by routing production to other production facilities including one in Thailand that was not affected by the floods and is fully operational.
Flood In Thailand Not Receding
The news of the flooding in Thailand has preoccupied the business world due to the delays in production for certain essential products for gadgets. Sony, Toshiba and Apple are all affected by the flooding in the area.
On the ground, the Thai navy are rather busy ferrying people and supplies to those who are cut off due to the flooding. According to reports, this is by far the worst flood experienced in Thailand for decades.
The Thai navy announced recently that the water has not receded in the past week and it may take time for the area to be operational again. The Asia Highway for example is still fully submerged.
Meanwhile, as the Thai government are working towards evacuating affected residents, some inhabitants of the area do not wish to leave their homes for fear that their possessions will get stolen.
Sony Europe’s Image Sensing Solutions Division has created the MCB1172, capable of capturing 720p at 30fps video with 16x zoom, face detection, and auto focus. Thisincredibly small module measures in at 9.5 x 7.1mm (smaller that many coins) and captures 8.3 megapixels. The MCB1172 is said to be hitting mass production and is reported to most likely enter the security and industry markets later this year. With unlimited potential, this tiny module has the chance to become part of so many mainstream consumer electronics that it is daunting to think of the number of future gadgets that will have the ability to record with such clarity. Until then, we will have to live with our puny camera phones and the peaceful knowing that there is not a tiny high-resolution camera hiding out in everything that we buy.