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Analyst: Sony Updates PS3 Shipment Details
by Brandon Boyer
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September 11, 2006
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Following a conference with market analysts late last week, unspecified "Sony PlayStation management" representatives have clarified earlier reports on the recent downsizing of the PS3's shipment to take place at its November launch.
In a report filed by Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian, the management explained the shipment numbers of the PS3's two models. "The split between premium (60GB) and core (20GB) units at US retail stores," Sebastian said, referring to the high-end model complete with a 60GB hard drive and HDMI video output, and the lower-end 20GB hard drive version, "should be roughly 80/20%."
Though initial shipments aren't expected to break 400,000 units for the November 17th launch, the representatives stated another 800,000 units would be shipped via air freight throughout the remainder of the calendar year, with a total of 1.2 million units expected to hit U.S. shelves by the end of December, and the same number for consumers in Japan.
Sony also added that with refinement and improvement of BluRay laser supplies -- the high-capacity storage media said to be causing the downgraded supply numbers -- the company expects its PS3 production to increase to an additional 1.2 million units monthly.
On services available at the console's launch, Sebastian commented that a full array of network functionality would be ready out of the box, including "...video, audio, and text chat, gamer rankings, as well as limited content downloads such as casual games and game updates," but that additional planned services like internet browsing and fully-downloadable console games were not expected due to "storage and bandwidth constraints."
The report concludes that the company will fully lift the veil on its online service, including the leveraging of Sony's music and video divisions within the network application, at the Tokyo Game Show, set to begin in a few weeks time.
Moving away from the console division, Sony also added that a new bundle was forthcoming for the company's PSP. The new handheld 'entertainment' bundle will include a yet unspecified UMD movie, its ATV Off Road Fury (recently promoted to its Greatest Hits line), and a 1 gig memory stick -- a large step up from the 32MB stick currently offered in the premium PSP pack. No price or date was set on the new bundle.
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