Speculation Begins Over Initial PS3 Shipments
by GamePro Staff | 08/24/2006 | 10:51:48 AM PST
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As the PlayStation 3 launch date approaches, some speculation about initial shipment volumes is inevitable.But the guesswork has gotten off to an early start thanks to a misstep by a PlayStation executive and an analyst report from Tokyo.
How many PS3s will be available for launch?
How many PS3s will be available for launch?
Kaz Hirai, head of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s (SCEI) U.S. unit, said in an interview last week that the company plans to ship two million of the consoles in the current calendar year. That's half of the four million consoles the company originally planned to ship. But SCEI said Thursday that Hirai misspoke and that the company's original plan remains in place.
It calls for two million consoles to be ready at launch, a further two million to ship before the end of the year, and an additional two million to ship in the January to March quarter of 2007. The PlayStation 3 is due to be launched in Japan on Nov. 11, and in North America, Europe and Australasia on Nov. 17.
A day earlier, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. Ltd. downgraded Sony Corp. stock from a "2" to a "3" on its rating scale, citing expected low shipments of the console. The Japanese brokerage house said it expects total shipments from the launch until the end of March 2007 to be just 3 million units -- half of Sony's target.
The UFJ analyst, Masahiko Ishino, elaborated: "In the medium term this would mean that it would take longer for Sony to recover its huge investment in PS3 and thus we are downgrading the stock," Ishino said.
Mitsubishi UFJ Securities believes that supply problems for some electronics components used in the gaming machine will cause Sony to miss its target. The components in question were not identified.
But they all do sort of the same thing, and that is rearrange what you thought was real, and they remind you of the beauty of very simple things. You forget, because youre so busy going from a to z, that theres 24 letters in between... You turn on... tune in... and you drop out...
The diodes may only be part of the delay. This article from Silicon Image says the HDMI 1.3 TRANSMITTER chip that will be used in the PS3 (VastLane SiI 9134) is not available yet and will be shipped in October. The PS3 needs this chip to TRANSMIT the 1080p HD signal to the display. The VastLane SiI 9133 Receiver chip for TV's and displays is already available so we should see the first HDMI 1.3 HDTV's soon.
Maybe they'll start manufacturing with the non-HDMI model first then do the $599 model later when these chips are available. It's possible that majority of the PS3's at launch will be non-HDMI.
"The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."
-Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Home Entertainment Feb 19, 2008
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. August 2006 @ 09:48
@eatsushi:
The article actually says that production of the chip is scheduled for October - so delivery to the PS3 manufacturing sites may be late October to early November. That's cutting it really close. I hope they have enough time and resources for QC.
But they all do sort of the same thing, and that is rearrange what you thought was real, and they remind you of the beauty of very simple things. You forget, because youre so busy going from a to z, that theres 24 letters in between... You turn on... tune in... and you drop out...
PS3 Username: Anubis66
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1. September 2006 @ 09:53
"The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."
-Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Home Entertainment Feb 19, 2008
