PS3 Price Cuts Are Certain
In an interview with Sony’s CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, that
was published today revealed that price cuts to the PS3 are certain, but the
extent of the price cuts are not yet known. Stringer declares that the company
is trying to maximize the price cut’s effect, which probably means that
analysts are busy at work right now.
“Although Stringer declined to provide a target range for
the cuts, researchers expect that Sony may trim the price by as much as $100
before the holiday season, hoping to spur a fresh wave of sales. A combination
of a cut and ‘break-out’ games would revitalize the console, Stringer says.”
“Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours… because it’s cheaper.”
“Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours… because it’s cheaper.”
Stringer believes that the high price of the PS3 was one of the main reasons
it suffered from low sales figures, as compared to the Wii, which has been
selling for less than half the PS3’s price since late 2006. Recently, the PS3
has widely been considered a burden on Sony. On the one hand, Sony’s Bravia LCD
TV product line and popular movies such as Casino Royale and Spiderman 3 are
highly successful hits. On the other hand, there’s the PS3, which has sold
poorly and did not reach its recent shipping target by a mile (fell short by about
500,000 units). If Sony does trim the price by $100, that will pretty much put
the PS3 on par with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Elite.