If Sony’s goal is to introduce a new PS3 model in the coming months, and it can only happen once the old one sells out, what happens if that takes too long?
It was big news yesterday when the PS3 topped Amazon electronic sales for two days straight after the $100 “price drop.” But then there was a huge uproar today when SCEE president said that the 60GB PS3 was being discontinued and that there would be a new 80GB model introduced at the $599 price. Lots of people cried foul, saying that Sony was basically dumping their inventory to make room for the new expensive model.
But I must ask, what happens if Sony can’t sell the remaining inventory fast enough? No. Really. Think about this.
Sony wants to introduce a new PS3 model as early as possible to regain a competitive “we have a big hard drive too” foothold against Microsoft’s Xbox Elite. Unfortunately releasing this new upgrade would completely destroy demand for a 60GB PS3.
We saw this once before when the 20GB model was discontinued. This meant a PS3 could only be purchased at $599 (since the $499 ones were gone). History is repeating itself and the 60GB is going next.
This means that this price drop is only temporary!
This was a fine plan so long as nobody realized there was a new PS3 coming. Sales were doing great yesterday as proof. However, now that everybody knows the 60GB is soon outdated, and with rumors flying that the 80GB will have rumble, what will happen now?
There are approximately two million unsold 60GB PS3s right now sitting in stores (calculated by comparing the sale vs shipped counts). Sony can’t introduce the 80GB without seriously harming its retailers. It took Sony nine months to sell four million PS3s. Assuming the sales rate doubles, they would sell out in two or three months (October). Their master plan could have been to cut the top-end price by $100 in November. That is, so long as the 60GB sells out fast enough.
So long as there are major retail inventories left, Sony can’t launch a new “upgrade” without seriously harming (angering) their retail relationships. Brushing aside the new rumor that the Xbox is seeing a permanent $100 price drop in two weeks, I wonder what happens if PS3 sales slow down because everybody decides to “wait for the 80GB with rumble?”
The leak of this news may have caused serious harm to Sony. I still can’t believe how Sony executives keep saying insanely stupid things without getting fired. After their impressive showing at E3, all they had to do was stay quiet!