Sony Corp. Likely to Lose Customers Because of PS3 Delay
Japanese companies can usually be counted on to follow through on committments. Sony Corp., however, has had to revise the number of Playstation 3s it plans to have available for sale by Christmas of this year.
Originally, Sony had hoped to have as many as 2 million consoles ready by November. The number now is about 1/4th of that. And, Europe is out in the cold.
Nintendo, makers of Wii, and Microsft, makers of Xbox 360, are delighted by the news, hoping this delay will give them opportunity to cut into Sony’s 70% market share.
FWIW, Sony apologized to its consumers. As a consumer, I would rather they wait until they got it right than sell me something that has to be replaced later.
Game publishers are likely to take a hit on Sony’s delay as well. But…the game publishers are also more likely to sell more games to Xbox and Wii users and THEN, when the PS3 comes out, sell games for that medium as well.
In short, PS3 will come out sooner or later and games will be sold to be played on it sooner or later as well.
My guess is the 500,000 some units that will go on sale by Christmas will be bought up and then, who knows, start showing up on places like eBay.
What do you think?
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September 10, 2006
Sony really dropped the ball on this one, in my opinion. First, some game developers being hurt develop games (or most of their games) exclusively for the Sony platform. These are the developers Sony can least afford to alienate.
Secondly, the entire buildup to the PS3 launch has been a disaster. The pricing was announced in the weirdest fashion (”we want people to work for this”, yes we get it, its going to be expensive!), then Sony lost heartshare with the whole CD DRM fiasco. Nintendo, of course, has played this masterfully. First up, the Wii is a whole lot cooler than the PS3, which Sony planned on selling with just pure extra muscle and zero innovation.
Thirdly, Check out recent Digg’s on Nintendo or Sony and you will see that most people lean towards Ninetendo’s platform. Even Sony’s own executives are questioning where the company is heading, as per a recent news item.
Sony is a company fast on the decline, I believe, squeezed between nimbler (Nintendo, chinese electronics makers), sexier (Apple) or just plain richer (Microsoft) competitors in all its core markets.
September 11, 2006
Well Sony needs to get their butts in gear. this delay is going to decrease their reputation even with their hardcore fans. But knowing Sony they will come out of this with ease like they always do.