In the war for supremecy between the Xbox and PlayStation, I’m starting to wonder if Microsoft has finally gained the upperhand in the whole console war thing?
The Xbox 360 is spreading like a bushfire, massive pre-Christmas sales, people simply couldn’t get a console, strong post-Christmas sales keep the 360 going and going – they seem to have all the angles covered, even with the hefty pricetag. Then along comes Sony, hyping up the PS3 since ever, yet now it seems that they may well be facing a delay of anywhere up to six months, or maybe beyond to twelve months.
Doing some blog surfing at the weekend, I came across Merrill Lynch’s report via engadget that cost-per-unit of the PS3 is going to run around $800 in the US, provided of course that they can get the technology they need (including Blu-ray) ready for their estimated spring launch. With a retail price being touted in the region of $400-$500 it would seem that Sony are going to take a massive hit come launch day.
Yet, reading through Reuters this morning (article published yesterday) it looks like the console might not hit Irish waters for another 12 months.
Most analysts took the report in stride as they already expected Sony to launch the PS3 this summer in Japan, followed by a U.S. launch before the Thanksgiving holiday in November. They expect a launch in Europe in early 2007.
With all this extra breathing room it looks like there’s plenty of time for Microsoft to continue converting fans of Sony’s console over to their way of life. Wouldn’t you think?
I’m not so sure. PS has many fans, many of those are sworn enemies to all things MS. Sony does indeed need to move fast though. Although they’ll be offering a better product, it wouldn’t do much good if everyone has gotten an xbox in the meantime.
Its true that the PS has a legion of fans who are sworn against the xbox but the later it takes Sony to get the PS3 off the ground, imo, the worse off they’ll be come the launch especially with the Revolution just around the corner as well.