Sony posts 4th straight quarter loss

SONY (JP6758.TK)s mobile phone joint venture with Sweden's Ericsson saw its sales tumble and losses balloon as it has lacked a strong smartphone offering to rival Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion's Blackberry.

In its game operations, the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment conglomerate launched a cheaper version of the PS3 last month to better compete with Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co's <7974.OS> Wii.

The move put pressure on Sony's profitability, but spurred console sales ahead of the key holiday season, brightening long-term prospects of the struggling game operation at a time when Nintendo's top-selling Wii console is losing steam.

Sony cut its operating loss forecast to 60 billion yen from 110 billion yen for the year to March, compared with a 227.78 billion yen loss a year earlier, and smaller than the consensus of a 68.8 billion yen loss in a poll of 21 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sony is the world's second-largest LCD TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co <005930.KS>, but the third-ranked LG Electronics Inc <066570.KS> has recently been gaining on it.

In July-September, Sony's operating loss was 32.6 billion yen, compared with a 11.05 billion yen profit a year earlier and beating the consensus estimate of a 59.2 billion yen loss.

Shares in Sony closed up 2.8 percent ahead of the results, outperforming a 2.1 percent rise in the local electrical machinery index .

Sony shares gained 41 percent since the start of the year through Thursday, while the subindex put on 28 percent.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Anshuman Daga)