20GB PS3 Discontinued
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Megadrive1988
Veteran
Sony needs to cut the 60GB, WiFi model down to $499 very fast. 65nm or not.
then do whatever it takes to reach the $399 pricepoint. clearly, Sony's strategy needs some major adjustments.
if PS3 stays at $599, the Xbox 360 and Wii collectively will slaughter it.
then do whatever it takes to reach the $399 pricepoint. clearly, Sony's strategy needs some major adjustments.
if PS3 stays at $599, the Xbox 360 and Wii collectively will slaughter it.
I'm not sure if Carl B will know variance in the real cost versus Isupply's estimate but it now brings the question of what it is the estimate right now. Maybe Carl has been digging. I hear he is able to generate electric energy in the palm of his hand.
I was asking for an estimate, not a sarcastic comment
. But Carl's response seem to suggest what I thought previously; that Isuppli's figures are BS.I was asking for an estimate, not a sarcastic comment
The estimates are probably bloated but AFAIK they're all we have in our armchair analyses. I'm definitely not hip enough to know where to look for these cost numbers but we can all be assured of the extra loss on the 20GB models versus the 60GB.
With all these talks about Sony changing the size of the drives and the seeming controversy its been raising I just have to ask why?
Shouldn't it be intuitive for Sony to continually update the size of the drive in accordance to what is being mass produced the most currently? Eventually the 20 GB drive (if not already) will cost more than a 60 GB drive just because of economies of scale... so why not just update it so that you aren't driving up costs?
It provides some added benefits to people who have waited while avoiding splitting the core userbase since we're just talking about hard drive space and not functionality....
So whats the big deal here
Shouldn't it be intuitive for Sony to continually update the size of the drive in accordance to what is being mass produced the most currently? Eventually the 20 GB drive (if not already) will cost more than a 60 GB drive just because of economies of scale... so why not just update it so that you aren't driving up costs?
It provides some added benefits to people who have waited while avoiding splitting the core userbase since we're just talking about hard drive space and not functionality....
So whats the big deal here
Sony want to increase profits, which means getting rid of the $500 SKU and only offering a $600 SKU. If the 20 GB model were replaced with a 40 GB HDD 'coz it's cheaper than the 20GB, that SKU will still lose Sony much more money at $500 than the $600 machine.
Edit : I wonder if the 20 GB SKU wasn't a knee-jerk short-term maneouvre? Sony said they weren't going to have 2 SKUs. They said it'd be expensive. Perhaps they were thinking of a $600 60 GB from the off (when they decided on an HDD) but someone convinced the bosses that they needed a lower price-point. So they cobble together a lower SKU, against their original intentions, at not much cost savings. Especially when the decided HDMI was essential and had to go in as well. The result was a hardly cheaper box for a much lower price-point, and they lost more money than they were planning with the original $600 only plan. Now they've decided that $500 unit isn't going to fetch them a much larger install base, maybe, and decide to scrap it and go with the original plan.
Edit : I wonder if the 20 GB SKU wasn't a knee-jerk short-term maneouvre? Sony said they weren't going to have 2 SKUs. They said it'd be expensive. Perhaps they were thinking of a $600 60 GB from the off (when they decided on an HDD) but someone convinced the bosses that they needed a lower price-point. So they cobble together a lower SKU, against their original intentions, at not much cost savings. Especially when the decided HDMI was essential and had to go in as well. The result was a hardly cheaper box for a much lower price-point, and they lost more money than they were planning with the original $600 only plan. Now they've decided that $500 unit isn't going to fetch them a much larger install base, maybe, and decide to scrap it and go with the original plan.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
I personally think that they are preparing to move the 60GB model to 499$ and getting rid of the 20GB is simply because they don't want/can't go under that 499$ price tag. That's what I think will happen relatively soon, before the christmas season anyway.
Fu3lFr3nzy
Regular
I was thinking that aswell :smile: .
I'd prefer upgrading the HDD on my own if ever I run out of space, which im sure, many consumers out there would prefer aswell if it meant saving them money.
Its much better for them to apply as many cost cutting measures on the 60GB PS3, lower the price and remain 1 sku than add yet another sku at the $600 pricepoint which further isolates consumers.
We'll see where this goes
One of the hints is the price of a new stand-alone Blu-ray player sold by Sony Corp, and another is 65nm chips.
Fu3lFr3nzy
Regular
can we expect SCEI to release HDD free PS3 and leave us to buy HDD ourselves
Probably not. They have stated how PS3 is the ultimate package (with features like HDD standard
), so most probably not.Then again, alot of things have happened in this industry so it might not surprise me. Go ahead Sony, you know you wanna
But if they are loosing a lot of money on the 20GB model wouldn't they be loosing even more on the 60GB model?...
inefficient
Veteran
No.
The cost difference in hardware between the 20GB SKU and the 60GB SKU is much less than $100. They lose more money on the lower end SKU. It was the same situation with Xbox360.
He's referring to the price cut to 500 USD that DrEvil assumed. In that case Sony would lose more money compared to the 20GB model @ 500 USD.
A price drop because of cheaper Cell, RSX Memory no EE+GS chip and a lots of other stuff, 150$ of the BR drive plus all the other stuff would be alot wouldn´t it?
/OT
HD-DVD can give away their players that won´t change the main reason BR wins lack of movie exclusives.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Well a bit more yes, but there is large cost reductions on their way which will help a lot and of course they need to think about the installed base too, in which they are struggling a bit. Also as they have already had a sku at the 499$ price tag and eventhough it was available only in limited quantities it kind of gives a signal that with cost reductions that price tag would be likely for the only or main sku in the near future. It's already cheaper than that in Japan and Sony is facing very tough competition in North-America.
I certainly would *like* to believe that would happen, which is why I'm a bit cautious believing that it will. There are three items that separate the two skus, if I understand correctly: wifi, card reader, harddrive. There is some rumor that wifi and bluetooth will be combined into a single chip in the future, and the cost of 60G drives has fallen to 20. I think there is very little that would separate two skus in a PS3v2, so getting rid of one seems very reasonable.
Their BoM will certainly decline, but it remains to be seen whether it will decline *enough* to offer price cuts to consumers. While there are indications of Sony making more money than previous guidance would suggest, that is off the back of their Bravia line, not their game division.
Another consideration is that the dollar is declining these days, so the US (at least) is already effectively getting a decrease in price.
Unless Sony gets in a price war with Microsoft, I wouldn't expect a price decline until early 2008. That doesn't mean I don't want it to happen, but I don't see the 'alignment of stars' that would make it inevitable yet.
-Dave
