Investors were surprised in October by Apple's cautious outlook for its holiday sales, but today's news makes clear that shoppers are not buying electronics this holiday season the way they have done in the past.

Sony, the world's biggest producer of consumer electronics, has announced a steep global retrenchment, cutting 16,000 jobs, or more than 4 percent of its workforce, and cutting production by 10 percent. It is also scaling back its investments in technology by 30 percent.

Apple, of course, has taken business away from Sony, maker of the Walkman, with the success of the iPod. And Sony has been hurt by the rise in the value of the yen to 13-year highs. But Sony's cutbacks also reflect how much consumer spending has slowed around the world at a time when electronics are popular holiday and year-end gifts. A major American electronics retailer, Circuit City, is now in bankruptcy. Apple may do better than most, but it is a bleak time for the industry.

"The initiatives are in response to the sudden and rapid changes in the global economic environment," Sony said. Some 80 percent of its sales come from outside Japan.

It is the second series of cuts by Sony, the only major Japanese corporation headed by a foreigner, the Welsh-born, American citizen, Sir Howard Stringer.

Sony has also been hurt by the sliding prices for flat-screen TV's. Another electronics manufacturer, Samsung of South Korea, said on Monday that it was lowering its targets for sales and profits.