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Sony Corp.'s chief executive said Thursday that the Japanese electronics giant is well-positioned to turn out the innovative products needed to re-energize the television market, even as it faces design-savvy competitors like Apple Inc.

Howard Stringer, speaking at a breakfast hosted by The Wall Street Journal, said TV manufacturers, driven by their desire to rack up market share, have bred an intensely competitive market. As a result, they are scrambling to come up with a new generation of TV sets that will separate them from the pack and command premium prices.

Mr. Stringer declined to discuss details of what Sony has on the drawing board, but said, "There's a tremendous amount of R&D going into a different kind of TV set." He added that he has "no doubt" Apple's late leader Steve Jobs also was working on changing the traditional TV set.

"That's what we're all looking for," said Mr. Stringer. "We can't continue selling TV sets [the way we have been]. Every TV set we all make loses money."

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