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heyholetsgogrant
April-11th-2007, 10:31 AM
Sony's PlayStation 3 in race against time
Tue Apr 3, 2007 1:08AM EDT

By Kiyoshi Takenaka - Analysis

TOKYO (Reuters) - After a slow start, the outlook for Sony's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) PlayStation 3 is getting brighter as growing appetite for high-definition TV fuels the game console's sales and production costs come down.

But Sony's window of opportunity is closing quickly if it hopes to catch up with rivals Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Nintendo Co. Ltd. (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) and keep the support of game developers so vital to a console's success, analysts said.

Sony Corp. and other console makers typically lose money on the hardware and generate profit from royalties on software. So the key to making money is to establish a large installed base of consoles and encourage developers to put out a lot of games.

"It's a race against time," said Hiroshi Kamide, an analyst at KBC Securities who covers the $30 billion video game industry. "They must increase their users or it won't be commercially worthwhile for software makers to support itit."

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUST190920070403?src=040307_1130_INVESTING_commen t_n_analysis



US Web sites pull PS3 20GB model
The basic edition of the next-gen console is removed from Sony's US Web site, fuelling speculation that its days are numbered.
By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UK
Posted Apr 11, 2007 4:17 am PT

The official online Sony store in the US, Sony Style, has taken down the 'basic' model of the PlayStation 3 from its Web site, as a number of retailers stop selling the cheaper model of the console in the States.

Today companies including Amazon.com, Best Buy, GameStop, EB Games, and Circuit City were no longer listing the 20GB model on their Web sites.

The 20GB model of the console has a number of differences to the 60GB version aside from the size of the internal hard drive and lower price, including the lack of Wi-Fi connectivity and multiple flash memory card readers, and the chrome trim.

Source: Gamespot

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6168876.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;2

IONTOP
April-11th-2007, 10:39 AM
I think that this latest console batch will teach companies that if you are going to launch a product that has high demand yet there are alternatives, you had better not have a shortage when people have the money to buy your product but can't. If I went into Circuit City with $500 and they didn't have a PS3 and didn't know when they would be getting them, but they did have a WII for $300 and a 360 for $399, I would get one of them...


Next time, make sure your products don't create a shortage in the market, or produce enough so that if your product sells out, you will be okay with losing whatever percent of the people who want your product....

heyholetsgogrant
April-11th-2007, 10:43 AM
I think that this latest console batch will teach companies that if you are going to launch a product that has high demand yet there are alternatives, you had better not have a shortage when people have the money to buy your product but can't. If I went into Circuit City with $500 and they didn't have a PS3 and didn't know when they would be getting them, but they did have a WII for $300 and a 360 for $399, I would get one of them...


Next time, make sure your products don't create a shortage in the market, or produce enough so that if your product sells out, you will be okay with losing whatever percent of the people who want your product....


With the exception of the overrated Wii, I think both systems really don't have any shortage problems, In fact you can find a PS3 anywhere. Even at the launch of the PS3 some stores still had stock during Christmas. I think what the articles were getting at is the PS3 is not selling very well and keeping the 20G PS3 in stock are costing retailers money....I think the main issue is that both the 20g and 60g versions of the PS3 were grossly over priced..

-Grant

IONTOP
April-11th-2007, 10:48 AM
With the exception of the overrated Wii, I think both systems really don't have any shortage problems, In fact you can find a PS3 anywhere. Even at the launch of the PS3 some stores still had stock during Christmas. I think what the articles were getting at is the PS3 is not selling very well and keeping the 20G PS3 in stock are costing retailers money....I think the main issue is that both the 20g and 60g versions of the PS3 were grossly over priced..

-Grant

I dunno... I specifically remember there being a shortage of PS3's which I feel contributed to the WII's sucess... (Isn't it weird that Wii in all uppercase is WII which is 1 W away from being WWII and the product is from a company in Japan?) anyways... When everyone "settled" for the Wii and decided that it's not as crappy of a system as they had expected, more people jumped on the boat and the PS3 was kinda put on the "Masses" back burner....

jbooma
April-11th-2007, 10:52 AM
The moral of the story don't bet with your brand new system that needs to save the company with a new technology that has never been tested :silly:

Microsoft is going to hurt Sony with dropping the XBOX prices in the future. Sony will lose so much if they try and compete with their prices.

wsniper1
April-11th-2007, 10:52 AM
PS3 is not overpriced its just the casual gamer is not going to utilize the whole package.
For someone with an HDTV, wireless networking, and the want to have a HD media player, its perfect for a small price!
How else could I have a Blue-Ray player
WiFi
60GB HDD
HDMI
and a gaming system for $600.

I also think the ebay buyers hurt the PS3 and bought all the models from teh stores, then returned them after they overpriced the unit online...

GrapeApe
April-11th-2007, 11:29 AM
PS3 is not overpriced its just the casual gamer is not going to utilize the whole package..

It's not over priced for what you get, the problem is that Mom and Dad aren't going to by little Timmy a $600 video game system.

I see PS3's all the time on shelves. I can't find a Wii.

Disco Dave
April-11th-2007, 03:31 PM
The PS3 is great. Well worth the money. People are just now starting to see it's potential. It's always fun hearing people bash a great product. The PS3 has a lot to offer. It has been known for a while that Sony was going to discontinue the 20 gig PS3; if your going to buy one most people spent the extra money for the 60 gig PS3. So, the 20 gig didn't sell as well. It's no big deal.