Sony Corp. will release a series of products beginning later this year as part of a drive to regain its market strength, company President Kunitake Ando said in a recent interview.

"We're preparing goods that will by far outperform other companies' products ahead of (our) 60th anniversary in 2006. Those goods will be released one after another from later this year," Ando said.

In addition to the PlayStation Portable video game console, set to hit the market at the end of the year, Sony will market "attractive products with which users can enjoy access to hard-disk drive contents," the 62-year-old said.

He said Sony will launch new devices both for playing music and reproducing images.

"We will focus on music and images with full force," he said.

Ando said Sony would launch commercial production of full-color organic electroluminescent displays before any other firm.

The panels are viewed as next-generation flat displays that could replace liquid-crystal displays.

"We will start from applying the displays to small personal digital-assistant devices and mobile phones. The images on those displays are extraordinarily clear. The problem is whether we can supply enough when they become blockbuster hits," according to Ando.

Sony's group net profit in fiscal 2003 dropped 23.4 percent from the previous year, partly because the company failed to market good products until later in the year, Ando said.