"Sales over the previous financial year were 12.85 million, with 10 million units expected to be sold in the current financial year."

Ok, sales are down by over 20% in this financial year. Pretty hard to see how the PS3 will be more succesful the the PS2 when the numbers are already dropping.

I may not be a fan of the PS3 (or of Sony, with all their PR missteps this generation), but according to VGChartz.com, the PS3 is tracking similarly to the PS2 where sales from launch are concerned.

150m sounds aggressive, yes, but if Sony can continue following the PS2's sales figures, it may not be as far off as it first sounds. 2009 may be a telling year for the PS3.

I'm a big fan of the PS3 and I think he is crazy. I definitely see the PS3 having the potential to do these numbers but I have yet to hear them say what they plan to do about the Wii. Until they figure out a way to slow Nintendo down I just don't see them getting the attention they need from 3rd parties.

One reason why the PS2 did so well was due in large part to the inflated priced DVD players when the PS2 was about to come out. Comparatively, the PS2 was a heck of a deal. It was a DVD player AND a console all in one for a very reasonable rate. Additionally, the fact that DVD’s had added content in addition to the standard movie motivated many movie fanatics (many of which are also game fanatics) to purchase the system.
The PS3 on the other hand is bloated with equipment that isn’t ready to be fully utilized…particularly when many of it’s services (not all) can be found on a $100 PDA or i-phone. The PS3 doesn’t offer enough value for the asking price…particularly when faced with a declining economy where people will be looking for the best deal.

But the PS3 is still the only sane way to go if you want HD movies. Sony made a big bet on Blu-Ray integration, and they've payed for it with initial PS3 sales, but now with HD-DVD dead, it seems they're going to reap what they sowed. Of course, they'll still be in the Wii's shadow.

I just have one question. Can we hold you to this Sony?

"I want to try to see if we can exceed the PS2 numbers after nine years, otherwise why are we in this business?"

I'll be waiting to read your Dear John letter in the Official Xbox Magazine in 2015. :)

Yes the PS3 is the only way to get a cheap BluRay player and a console, that's true, but obviously the industry overestimated the interest in HD movies. DVDs were so succesfull, cause they gave you a signiificant advantage over VHS in terms of usability and picture quality and that for a cheap price. BluRay only gives you a better picture, the usability stays the same and most people seem to be completly satisfied with this picture quality, a lot of people prefer DivX over DVDs, cause they can be stored much easier on your PC, it's the same as with MP3, most people don't care that a mp3 isn't as good as an audio CD, it's much smaller.

It is still too early to tell whether the industry overestimated the interest in HD movies. The market only made Blu-ray the sole choice for physical HD media 6 months ago. Up until that time, the content providers were not willing to risk much and consequently the only difference between Blu-ray and DVD was a better picture, and in some situations better sound.

However, now that the format war is over producers can choose to look at Blu-ray as a viable revenue stream. It is the most secure means for companies to distribute digital content to consumers, provides them with more than 5x the space, and the ability to use the network and user input to do much more than was ever possible on DVD.

Of course these features may never appeal to some people. And those people will just stick with DVDs. Just like some of our parents and others we knew stuck with VHS tapes until their players broke and we forced them to live in the same era the rest of us were living in. Most will gradually accept the format as it becomes more appealing. To deny that the Marketing and R&D teams behind all the companies backing this tech are capable of making it appealing is just foolish.

Regardless of its success Blu-ray will coexist with DVD and Digital Distribution. To think that digital distribution will one day negate the need for physical media is also pretty foolish. Some people will always want something they can see, hold, and collect. Others will always want something convenient. And there will be others that want both. If you don't believe me then just look in your wallet. We have had the means to move to a "credit sticks" system for quite some team, if we really wanted to, but a large proponent of our society, myself included, would never give up the option to have physical currency.

@Christopher Plummer
Right now BluRay isn't as succesful as predicted. It won't kill the DVD in the near future, that's the difference between BluRay and the DVD. DVDs killed the VHS market in short time. Most of the people weren't satisfied with VHS, e.g. it was nearly impossible to release whole TV series on VHS, the ate up to much space. The advantages of BluRay you mention only appeal to a very small group of people, I think the vast majority wants to watch a movie or a TV show and isn't interested in user input via BluRay and I think most people don't care if the have one or five discs in the box they purchase, cause both take up exact the same space on the shelf.

The PS3's reign will begin in Spring 2006.
2007 will be the year where customers understand the incredible value of the PS3.
In 2008 price cuts will bring the PS3 to the top of the sales charts.
2009 will be the year everyone really begins to take advantage of the capabilities of the PS3.
2010 will be another year of bonehead announcements.

@Christian
I think your view of what people want lacks vision. I agree with you that the ability to put more data on the discs and interact with movies isn't going to be a huge selling point to most people. What will be the driving force behind Blu-ray is that people want access to their owned media without having to traipse around with the disc in their possession. Blu-ray can provide this functionality because the security involved can be updated and digital copies can be tracked and tied to a purchased version.

You're the only one looking for Blu-ray to kill DVD in the near future. Everyone else realizes that the penetration of HD sets, broadband connections, and tech savy required to experience the latter 2 is not going to hit the majority of the population anytime soon.

Recently I have seen the number of gamers growing in huge amounts! There are not many gamer girls my age that I know, but younger gamer girls own a console now or at least they are aware of the most advertised games. When I was a teenager, from a group of 8 friends, only 4 owned a console, I haven't made an intensive market research but I would say from an 8 teenager friend group these days at least 6 own a console. This means more consoles are being sold this generation, call it Wii, 360, PS3, PS2, PSP or DS.

Talking about my PS2 owner friends, all of them except one have traded their PS2 for PS3 and the last one is waiting for a cheap deal to purchase one. I'm talking about 4 friends who helped with the 140 million PS2 sold, now buying PS3. If we see this as a percentage we could say 75% of the PS2 users I know own a PS3 now, 25% will purchase a PS3 eventually and people I know who never had a PS2 (including myself) have now bought a PS3.

I think they will reach the 150 millions in 9 years easily.