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Sony to cut PS3 price in Japan, offer new model
By Reuters
http://www.news.com/Sony-to-cut-PS3-price-in-Japan,-offer-new-model/2100-1043_3-6212400.html
Story last modified Tue Oct 09 05:57:40 PDT 2007
Sony plans to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console by 10 percent in Japan and launch a new model, in a bid to ignite demand in the run-up to the critical year-end shopping season.
The move follows a similar announcement from Sony on its European game operations last week as the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment conglomerate plays catch-up with Nintendo's hot-selling Wii.
The PS3 has lagged the Wii in sales since the devices were launched late last year due to the Sony machine's high price and scarcity of strong game titles.
Sony said Tuesday it will lower the price of the PS3 with a 20GB hard drive from about $425 (49,980 yen) to about $385 on October 17.
It will also start selling its 60GB model for about $470. Sony has not so far suggested a price for the 60GB model, but it currently retails for about $510.
Besides the price cuts, Sony, which competes with Microsoft and Nintendo in the game industry, plans to launch a new PS3 with a 40GB hard drive for about $340 in Japan on November 11.
That is still considerable higher than the approximately $210 price tag for the Wii.
Although the price of the 40GB model will undercut the 20GB machine, the new 40GB set lacks some functions that the 20GB model offers, including compatibility with game software designed for the PlayStation 2.
Lowering prices will likely help drive PS3 sales in Japan, but the machine's competitiveness still falls short of that of the Wii, analysts said.
"As underlined by the delay in the Gran Turismo launch, there has been only limited progress in addressing the problem of software shortage," Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Etsuko Tamura said.
Sony last month postponed the launch of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, the latest installment of Sony's popular in-house racing game, to December 13 from October.
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