I'm just going to leave this one to Marc:

What can you say when a manufacturer finally comes clean about a product defect, three years after the fact? If that manufacturer is Sony, and the defect is a CCD problem that affects over 100 different models of digital cameras, camcorders and PDAs made from 2002 to 2004, you might say, "gosh, no wonder your market share is slipping!" According to Sony, the defect, which affects both the recording and displaying of images "only occurs to a limited number of units" (ain't that always the case?). The company is offering free repairs to anyone whose camera is still experiencing the problems, though we have to wonder how many owners of long-discontinued digicams like the 2 megapixel DSC-P31 have been hanging onto their defective cameras just waiting for this announcement — and how many have moved on to newer (and probably non-Sony) models in the interim.

The issue is apparently related to a loose connection on the back of the CDD caused by an iodine-based adhesive vaporizing over time and corroding wires. The interesting question here is: if there was no known problem with the units before today, why had they  "already introduced a test system to measure boding strength in around March 2004"?