Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer apologized to users of its PlayStation Network and other online services, breaking his silence on the biggest Internet security break-in ever.

"As a company we - and I - apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack," Stringer said in comments posted on Sony's U.S. PlayStation blog late on Thursday.

The incident may prove to be a significant setback for a company looking to recover after being outmaneuvered by Apple in portable music and Samsung Electronics in flat-screen TVs and which faces a tough fight in video games with Nintendo and Microsoft.

One analyst said security concerns could weigh on sales of Sony's gadgets and hurt growth prospects for its network services.

"There is a real concern that trust in Sony's business will decline," Kota Ezawa, analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Japan, wrote in a note ahead of the comments from Stringer.

"The network business itself still only makes a small direct contribution to earnings, but we see a potential drop in hardware sales as a concern."

Although video game hardware and software sales have declined globally, the PlayStation Network is a key initiative for the electronics company.

By: DocMemory
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