aaaaa00 said:
I don't think the impetus to release new models is that the current model is sucessful (and is getting close to sold out).
I think the impetus to release new PSX models is that the current model is doing so badly that they realize they need to try again with a more appealing product.
The new model really isn't
different though. Just with their software and firmware changes pre-installed and adding another case color option. (At least to my understanding that's pretty much all it does. Everyone who already has one can still update to all the features they'd be adding. Giving it a new model number still
sounds better, though, but it's not quite an incentive to let originals sit around. (And if they were doing a major upgrade, they'd be trimming the price on the old models as well. I think they've just trimmed the price on them all some to try to attract more customers.)
Didn't a bunch of articles get circulated a while back indicating the current model PSX is getting heavy discounts because Sony's trying to clear out the glut of old stock in the channel? Weren't there projections that PSX would do a million units before the fiscal year was done?
Yet another reason I think they'd be closer to selling out their original stock. There may have been a glut, but price drops tend to increase sales a bit. The new models, to my knowledge, will keep the same lower price to actually spruce UP sales a bit.
As to the "million sales" they already said their "oops" to that. That would include foreign markets (and second holiday season sales) for the most part as well, and we don't know how it will do out there. Sony's share of DVD recorders still jumped a huge amount (from 1.2% to 22.1%) but it seems like their Sugoroku line proved more popular and pulled sales from the PSX. I'm not sure what their plan for that line is in foreign markets... They may bank a bit more on the unique and interesting qualities of the PSX (especially now that it's in sufficiently improved state), and if it still fails to catch fire, bring out the Sugoroku line to brace things up.
I still wouldn't be suprised if the 100K sold quoted in January was 100K "sold-in" not "sold-through".
Everyone pulls the "sold = sold-in" ("shipped") vs "sold = sold-through" ("sold") trick in their press releases.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised either, but I just don't see it having any purpose for a small amount of sales during a launch period. If they're
expecting popularity, all the stores stock up to have enough for the release--and they may get the shaft. If a product actually sells to
customers very well and very quickly, it becomes a thing of note. Sales numbers also seem a lot easier to acquire in Japan, so it doesn't behoove them to make a claim that could immediately be contradicted by a source saying "what you REALLY meant to say was..." <shrugs>
It's a standard PR tactic -- you give the impression of high demand to make your product seem like it's desirable. It's perfectly legal, as long as you're saying "sold = sold-in" and not "sold-in = sold-through".
Granted, but I'd expect to have heard a contrary or correcting voice by now. When unit sales get into the millions I'm sure every number we see are "sold-in"s because that's the only one easy for the producer to track. (They know how much THEY have sold to everywhere...) For sales like the PSX, they probably sold over 100k to stores just to stock up for the launch, so comments of selling over 100k after it was launched would seem to point to customers. (And there were "selling out" comments. It's just if retailers restocked as if that demand would keep up, they'd get screwed if it flattened TOO much.)
The funny/ironic part doesn't care about the exact number of sales, though; it comes from Kun Kutagari who said that the PSX
"sells for almost 100,000 yen ($941) and it still sold out. There are no products out there that can say that." No products CAN say that! Not even the PSX!
