Sony's NeoGeo Pocket's (PSP2/Vita) business/non technical ramifications talk
- Thread starter Farid
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So you're saying 2012 for the PSP2 with the announcement now really acting as a spoiler for the 3DS launch and no more? If 2012 is true, would that be early 2012 or a year behind the 3DS as was initially expected or late 2012 and 18 months behind?
If they were aiming for $299 or less they'd have said so. The whole announcement was made purely to counter the 3DS launch, that kind of price would have been a massive help with that. As unfunny as that article is (apart from the move/handheld thing line) they have a point, there's a reason that they didn't even mention a price range.
You certainly don't want to lock yourself into a release price when that date is nearly a year off.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Sure but consider an iPhone 4 (much closer in spec to the PSP2 than the 4th gen iPod touch) which is still less capable according to specs than the PSP2.
Traditional LCD which is well vested in the market and quite mature in technology. Versus OLED which is still relatively difficult to manufacture in high resolution. A quad core ARM Cortex-A9 compared to the single core Arm Cortex-A8 implementation in the iPhone. I'll assume memory will be roughly the same at 512 MB. They both support 3G, Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi etc. 2 cameras. Presumably the PSP2 will have a more capable GPU than the iPhone 4. I'll assume similar levels of flash memory on board.
Then you add in a second touchpad on the back, a D-pad, 2x Analog sticks, thumb buttons, another 6 face buttons.
In the US without a 2 year contract, it goes for 500+ with 16 GB memory. And that's presumably with a cheaper CPU, cheaper GPU, and less mechanical components.
Lets lowball the price without contract at 500 USD to make scenarios easier to calculate. If there's a 100% margin on the devices that's still 250 USD for the cost to manufacture. And that's for a far less capable product than the PSP2 with far less mechanical components. Hell there are places in the US selling the unlocked 32 GB Iphone 4 for over 1000 USD.
As Arwin mentioned they may be hoping for some manufacturing breatkthroughs to lower the cost between now and retail launch. Perhaps some of the current features will be cut in order to get the cost down (do you really need an electronic compass in the machine?).
But if it were to launch now, it certainly wouldn't be out of line to expect a 400-700 USD retail price to avoid the product being a loss leader.
Regards,
SB
IPhone4 BOM is not too high. For example this article places iphone4 BOM under 200$ http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/06/28/iphone.4.costs.more.to.make.than.iphone.3gs/
And you have to remember 28nm is coming soonish after NGP launch. Also 45nm is more mature and cheaper at fall 2011 than it was at iPhone4 launch time. You have there almost 1.5 years worth of advancement in manufacturing(2010 summer versus 2011 christmas).
Who knows what kind of contracts 3g version of NGP will have, especially so if it's pimped as a media streaming device.
For the display we don't know yet if it will be manufactured by Sony or someone else. For some parts like the gyros we do know sony uses same stuff as in move controller which should affect pricing of chips.
But it's not launching now... Let's wait 10 months and see if the launch is nearby.
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I really just don't see them taping out and launching on 28nm in 2011. Perhaps they might get away with a limited launch at the end of the year in Japan followed by launches in the U.S.A. and Europe in 2012. I also struggle to see how that system would be practical in handheld form without 28nm. This is the reason why I think they're really going to be launching in 2012 in the places which actually matter (to us(.
I wouldn't expect 28nm revision until sometime in 2012. But they won't need to go on with 45nm chips for too long... And anyway these mobile chips are not huge monsters that cost bazillions to make. It's more about optimizing power consumption than anything else.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the launch got delayed like you propose.
If they really do launch this year (and they may just launch in Japan), they may be supply-constrained, especially by that screen.
So no need to price it aggressively, even if they can.
iPod Touch 32 GB is $300, 3DS is $250, iPad starts at $500 and most new smart phones start out at $199 and then in a month or two fall to $99 or $49 or even free with a contract.
Sony is unlikely to get an iPad-like contract-less data plan in the US.
So no need to price it aggressively, even if they can.
iPod Touch 32 GB is $300, 3DS is $250, iPad starts at $500 and most new smart phones start out at $199 and then in a month or two fall to $99 or $49 or even free with a contract.
Sony is unlikely to get an iPad-like contract-less data plan in the US.
I bet it will be $400 bucks retail when it hits the state or $200 with a 2 year contract with one of the wireless providers
It really is all about the power consumption AND heat generated from said power consumption. Both don't go well together inside a cramped and small handheld form-factor.
No but if they were really aiming for a $299 price then what's wrong with giving a price range?, $250-$350 would have people saying "its going to be $299!!!" without having to actually stick with that price. They've not mentioned any specifics on price, which tells me its not going to be close to $250.
To be fair the prices he compared assumed a 100% markup, I'd say that's a pretty big premium.
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They haven't started manufacturing them yet, so they don't actually know exactly. They'll get a chance to see the 3DS reception at retail. No reason to even lock in a range.
The blackberry playbook is gonna beat this thing out by 6months or more and we still don't know the price on it either.
There is a home console maker that doesn't have portable out or annoucned . If they or someone else comes out next year with a 28nm handheld then the graphics stick that sony is dangling wont really exist
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