The PlayStation 3’s steep price cut and Nintendo Wii’s supply problems are helping Sony immensely, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said this week. With U.S. PS3 sales doubling last week, why wouldn’t the beleaguered company finally be smiling?
Digital Journal — The PlayStation 3 console finally got more competitive: in weeks after slashing the PS3’s price by $100, it’s enjoying the kind of brisk sales Sony has been praying for. Sony said it sold more than 100,000 units of the PS3 in the week ending Nov. 11, compared to the 40,000 units it sold weekly before the price dropped from $599 to $499 for the 80GB model.
Also contributing to the PS3’s sales success was the Nov. 2 introduction of a 40GB model, which retailed for $399.
Sony CEO Howard Stringer told
Associated Press: "It's the breakthrough we've been anticipating. We've been holding our breath."
Hoping for good fortune has been weighing heavily on Sony, which faced lagging PS3 sales since its launch. Critics blamed the high cost of PS3 for its third-place finish behind Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii in year-round sales.
But Stringer is jabbing at Nintendo for not meeting demand. As
Nintendo admitted recently, the demand for the Wii this holiday season may outstrip supply. Stringer couldn’t be happier, telling AP:
It's a little fortuitous that the Wii is running out of hardware.
Sony is finally seeing some sunshine in its usually cloudy gaming division.
Its last quarterly earnings showed $848 million in operating losses, double the amount at the same time last year. The PS3 needs a rebound, and it looks like last week’s sales bonanza is the kind of good news Sony wants. A true Christmas present for Sony would be Nintendo running out of Wii units in December, putting the PS3 on the shopping lists of parents around the world.
Don’t hold your breath, Sony.
