Thursday 22 March 2007

Do you have an Xbox 360?

Microsoft's Xbox 360 is enjoying quite considerable success in the UK and readers may remember that I was quietly impressed with the console; particularly because of its Mac SDK origins. However, this did not precipitate a purchase as Nintendo's Wii (Revolution) captured my imagination as surely as Nintendo's DS and DS Lite.

The Xbox 360's lead is mostly down to coming to market first, limited supplies of Wii and Sony's shambolic launch of PlayStation 3! Given Microsoft's aggressive business model, a significant price drop and product revision would come as no surprise.

A PS3 global price cut could come as early as October!

Yuji Fujimori said in an investor note reported at CNN Money that cost-reduction measures in the manufacturing process would allow Sony to pass the savings along to consumers without damaging the company's long-term profitability.

Fujimori's note outlined how Sony reduced the number of components in the original PlayStation from 700 pieces to 200 in its final form, and the PS2's makeup was reduced from 2,000 to 600 components. According to the report, the PS3 prototype consisted of 4,000 components, and today production is heading for the 2,000 mark.

IBM recently announced that the PS3's Cell processor is moving from 90nm to 65nm, an important move in lowering the cost of PS3 production.

Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer recently acknowledged that the PS3's price could be a barrier to many consumers, saying, "If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the videogame field.

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