How Sony can sell more PS3s, with claims and counterclaims that a price cut is the answer. 2007-05-30
Sony’s PS3 still sells in numbers well short of those for the Xbox 360 and especially the Wii, hampered in some ways by the fact it is the most expensive games console on the market.
Of course, we know the PS3 is the most powerful games console, given its feature packed nature, but its staggered start in Japan and the US late last year, and the ‘rest of the world’ around 3 months ago didn’t help.
Cries for a price cut to make the PS3 more affordable have come from different quarters, but in an interview with BusinessWeek, the Bank of America's Michael L. Savner thinks the expected US $100 price cut won’t be enough, and that a US $200 price cut might be needed, although unlikely because it would cut so much into Sony’s profits, already losing an estimated almost US $200 per console currently sold.
Sony have made significant efforts since the PS3 was released to improve its capabilities, although arguably, these should have been available from day one, especially given the PS3’s delay. But haranguing Sony for the lateness of the PS3 is about as useful as doing the same with Vista – both came out as soon as they were in good enough shape to go out the door.
Since release, the PS3 has received a raft of firmware updates, with the latest transforming the PS3 into a ‘digital media center’, able to stream content from different computers or network storage in the home, and better able to link with the PSP, allowing PSP users to stream content from their home PS3 when connected to a Wi-Fi network,
