Stan Glasgow, head of Sony Electronics, Inc. in the U.S. sees a strong holiday coming for the company, according to the L.A. Times on Monday. Flat panel HDTVs will be a bright spot along with laptops and GPS devices. He’s also confident about the future of Blu-ray because, like music, people want to own some movies.

While consumers are cutting back on many purchases, Mr. Glasgow sees a rosier picture for Sony and consumer electronics. That’s especially true because consumers will be prepping for the Feb 18, 2009 DTV changeover by buying new TVs at Christmas.

Sony experienced double-digit growth in calendar Q2, and Mr. Glasgow expects a strong holiday season as well, with customers buying flat panel TVs, laptop computers, music players and GPS devices.

The Sony executive also pointed out that they’ll be delivering their Bravia Internet Video Link as a module that attaches to the back of some of their TVs. The module will cost US$299, but the content is free. This fall, he said, Sony will stream the movie Hancock to the Video Link prior to the DVD release.

Finally, asked about the future of Blu-ray, Mr. Glasgow observed. "Packaged media like Blu-ray will continue to do well. People like collecting their movies. They like owning them. While some people are comfortable downloading content, there are a lot more people who are comfortable with prepackaged media. I don’t personally see packaged content disappearing."

Sony’s bright outlook is being mirrored by Apple, another recession proof consumer electronics company. When times get tough, consumers pick and chose their purchases, and Sony HDTVs and Apple products are often at the top of those lists.