Sony expected to lower 80GB PS3 to $499
News that the newly discounted PS3 would be discontinued in the coming months left many gamers slightly frustrated on Friday, but Sony will likely stick with its $499 price point when 60GB inventory depletes says analyst Micheal Pachter.
“Although we think that Sony’s public relations gaffe was unfortunate, we do not believe that the company has ill intent, and we expect the $499 price point to be maintained until early next year, when the 80GB model will likely by cut again to $399,” Pachter said.
Just yesterday, Sony told GamePro that 60GB PS3s should be available for “months and months,” even suggesting new pricing once the 60GB models have been diminished.
“We have ample supply to last us for months and months, so any upheaval over the stop in manufacturing of this model is ill-placed. As we said on Friday, we won’t be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated,” a Sony spokesman told us.
Now what Sony did is making sense, they are improving their manufacturing process and cutting costs and the drop of $100 on the 60GB PS3s was just a way to clear inventory so they can start shipping these cheaper units with larger harddrives.
It might be that Sony should have just waited another year to release PS3, since even at this point they can’t manufacturing them cheaply and they have very little software. But it seems they are getting the console in order and will be ready to take on the market with a $400 80GB model by next year. That is when I’ll get one, and I’m sure millions of people with the same mindset are sitting on the sidelines waiting for that day.
At least it won’t have a 33% failure rate!
Source: Gamepro
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