The WiFi means nothing to me as my wireless router is right next to where my PS3 will go, so I can easily connect it using Ethernet. And I won’t use the card readers at all so all I’ll be getting for the extra price is a bigger hard drive.

Four of my friends have all said they would get a PS3 at launch if the 20GB was available, so they are going to wait until a price drop or until the 20GB arrives. Four sales of the 20GB PS3 beats one sale of the 60GB PS3.

Consider if these 4 people bought the 20GB PS3, then add on a couple of games, extra controller etc, and Sony would clearly gain by having these four on board the PS3 train, rather than passing them by on the sidelines. If they haven’t got a PS3 then they can’t buy games, peripherals and BD movies.

I don’t hold much water with market research or what retailers say. I believe there is a demand for both SKUs and the people I know personally, prove this.

It’s also a little annoying that Sony decided to go with two SKUs in the first place then decide to remove the option of the cheaper SKU.

I believe it is easier for Sony to put all production behind one unit at this time and later add the 20GB for those that want a better price point. I don’t think Europe wants to feel what we did here in the states with short supplies. Would you guys rather have half a million total 60GB and 20GB units or one million 60giggers. I think that question should answer itself.

Secondly. Yes, the price is a bit hard to swallow, but it is the same with the iPod in some ways. There are MUCH cheaper MP3 players around, yet they dont sell ANYWHERE near as good as Apples accessory! Why is that? There are many things that factor into this. Quality, name of brand (Apple is renowned for high quality hardware), ease of use, compatibility and so forth… I think, this is the same with the PS3. It sells well, although there are competitors that offer “the same” (not THE same, but nearly equal). The PS3 has many advantages over the competition, which negates the price differential.

Thirdly. The iSupply numbers are (imho) very off. Some things just seem wrong. First of all, Sony produces all of the Chips inside the PS3 itself (except the HDMI chip, which costs less than $1 afaik), which means, theres no “overhead” for chip producers like TMSC. That means, the Cell and the RSX are overpriced in this sheet. Comparing it to the 360s numbers from iSupply (MS tapes out at TMSC) the XeCPU and GPU should be more expensive than the PS3s chips. And $200 for the BD ROM drive also are a bit high. I’d rather think it is half that, because the only major difference here would be the diode, and that does not cost $150 per unit. The rest is nearly the same as in any optical drive, manufactured over the past 20 years.

Forth. I think, Sony asked the retailers what the preorders were… And I think more than 95% of these were 60GB versions, so Sony would produces units not to be sold in a timely manner. Yes, for some people unlucky enough to not have 100€ in loose change, it sucks, but Sony thinks, it doesnt need to cater that demand. And I dont think, thats too wrong. First of all, they make more money and secondly, they dont need to have 2 SKUs in retail, which saves space (also no problems in shipping etc…). Wifi is pretty widespread in Germany as of now (took a huge leap the last year… PSP wardriving is fun ) and so the Wifi in the PS3 is needed.

And to put into contrast. Germanys sales are on an alltime low (lowest sales in January since 1995 or so) atm. Ok, our VAT was raised (19% now, but strangely no PS3 price increase, although we now have higher VATs than Britain) but only on non food (and also not on reading stuff and so on) articles. January and February always are the month with the lowest overall sales, virtually worldwide (dunno about non christian countries).

And “declining sales”. The PS3 up till now sold more units than the 360 in the same time, although it had a bigger launch allocation and despite being “so much more expensive and it doesnt have killer games, is proprietary, is less powerful, Sony shoves BD ROM up our behinds…”

So, I think I am done for now ^^

I think the reason for one sku at launch is to ramp up the supply as fast as possible. Providing two skus with a lopsided demand on one just makes some people settle for the lower one when they wanted the higher one. Also lowers supply overall. They can crank out 60GBs untill demand is met then release the 20GB and avoid the problems they had here and JP launches

The Wii just happens to be doing so darn well, that in comparison the PS3 doesn’t look so good. But that’s not to say the PS3 is doing poorly, because it’s not.

It’s all starting to look a bit 3DO. Too expensive, and no real killer-apps.