Sir Howard Stringer Esq. MSRP III Jr., current CEO of Sony, is now replacing Ryoji Chubachi as president. He will also remain CEO while Mr. Chubachi will be come responsible for product quality and safety. This move is also known as “putting their Japanese horses out to pasture” and it’s bad news for Sony.

The cynical would say that they’re basically setting Sony management up for a fall. They put a gaijin in the driver’s seat, pull out the oldsters, and watch as the $2.7 billion operating loss swallows the company whole. However, we could also see this as a way for the Japanese owners to save face, blaming the lay-offs and plant closures on a British national. Either way, things won’t be pretty in Sony for the next few years.

Sony has fallen so far behind in the tech race it’s ridiculous. Samsung and LG ate their lunch in cellphones and “white goods” – household appliances, basically – the only two places where you can make a little money and sell a boatload of product. Their old strengths, namely laptop and PC sales, have gone commodity and they were late to the netbook game although, ironically, they began the whole thing back in the the early 2000s but failed to capitalize on them.

Kazuo Hirai of the games unit will now head up personal computers and mobile electronics. Seeing how good he did at selling the PS3, expect more overpriced hardware from Sony. My recommendation: get out the black crepe paper because this old girl is going under.