20GB PS3 Officially Dead

[Dave Long]

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5194&Itemid=2

“This is based purely on consumer and retailer demand, which favored the [$599] 60GB model 10 to 1,” he said in a prepared e-mail statement

Karraker claimed that the heavy favoring of the higher-end model “supports the notion that consumers are willing to pay more for advanced technology in a gaming console.”

Sony loses considerably more money on the 20GB PS3 compared to the 60GB model. Supply chain research firm iSuppli’s November 2006 analysis said that the hardware maker loses $306.85 per 20GB model sold versus $241.35 for the 60GB PS3.

[Andrew Mayer]

I bet MS is throwing a party...
an ELITE party.

[Malderi]

I'd say it just lowered my chances of buying one, but since it's currently zero anyway there wouldn't be any point.

Still, at least you can now officially get an HD-DVD player cheaper than a Blu-Ray. HD-DVD is still $500 ($300 360 + $200 add-on), while Blu-Ray is $600 at the lowest.

Any bets on when they introduce a $700 model?

[Coca Cola Zero]

I love how Sony keeps saying they are doing this because consumers were buying the 60gb version 10 to 1 over the 20gb version, not mentioning the fact that the units they shipped out were about the same ratio.

With the abandonment of the $500 sku, I'd assume it'll be more than 2 years before they offer a PS3 at $400, which means I won't own a PS3 until 2009 at the earliest, and even that assumes there are must-have games for it by then.

[Moore]

I'd say it just lowered my chances of buying one, but since it's currently zero anyway there wouldn't be any point.

Still, at least you can now officially get an HD-DVD player cheaper than a Blu-Ray. HD-DVD is still $500 ($300 360 + $200 add-on), while Blu-Ray is $600 at the lowest.

Any bets on when they introduce a $700 model?

Fall.

CCZ:

Also, they dont mention that retailers likely made more on the 60gb version due to what sony likely charged them for the two SKUs. So of COURSE they ordered more of the one that got them more in pocket.

[Ben Sones]

I love how Sony keeps saying they are doing this because consumers were buying the 60gb version 10 to 1 over the 20gb version, not mentioning the fact that the units they shipped out were about the same ratio.

That wasn't a ratio. Those were sales figures.

[shift6]

Karraker claimed that the heavy favoring of the higher-end model “supports the notion that consumers are willing to pay more for advanced technology in a gaming console.”
Wifi plus 40 gigs more? High tech!

[Igor Muravyev]

Yay let's pay for $100 for 40 more GB, and lets just ignore the fact that a 250GB HD is <$100 on the street.

[worm]

MP3 players must really piss you guys off.

[Jason Cross]

I'd say it just lowered my chances of buying one, but since it's currently zero anyway there wouldn't be any point.

Still, at least you can now officially get an HD-DVD player cheaper than a Blu-Ray. HD-DVD is still $500 ($300 360 + $200 add-on), while Blu-Ray is $600 at the lowest.

Any bets on when they introduce a $700 model?

Actually, one of those new Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD players is $399.

[Moggraider]

Yay let's pay for $100 for 40 more GB, and lets just ignore the fact that a 250GB HD is <$100 on the street.


It's not like the 60gig drive is the only advantage the higher SKU has over the lower.

[slantz]

Still, at least you can now officially get an HD-DVD player cheaper than a Blu-Ray. HD-DVD is still $500 ($300 360 + $200 add-on),
I thought the HD-DVD drive required a hard-drive on your system, which would nullify that math. Can anyone confirm or deny?

I have the HD-DVD drive at home, so I'll see if I can find the box and answer my own question if nobody gets to it first.

[rjcc]

I thought the HD-DVD drive required a hard-drive on your system, which would nullify that math. Can anyone confirm or deny?

I have the HD-DVD drive at home, so I'll see if I can find the box and answer my own question if nobody gets to it first.

No, I'm pretty sure it doesn't. it has it's own onboard memory for persistent storage.

[Kool Moe Dee]

Wow. Way to ensure that I won't be buying a PS3 for at least three years now, Sony!

[Chris Nahr]

Wifi plus 40 gigs more? High tech!

Well, Microsoft still hasn't figured out how to put WiFi in any 360 model, so...

[Coca Cola Zero]

As a 360 and Wii owner, I'm not a big fan of built-in wifi. Since I've also got an XBMC-modded Xbox, an HTPC computer, etc in my living room already, I've got a wireless bridge in there. I much prefer just plugging my consoles into that via ethernet cable rather than setting each one up individually on my wireless LAN, having to change every one of them anytime I change my wireless access passwords, etc. Not to mention what happens when the world moves to 802.11n and all these built in wifis are forever stuck at g.

Don't get me wrong, I fully realize I'm not the norm when it comes to the living room setup of the average console owner, but personally I'm a big fan of keeping wifi out of the consoles themselves.

[Post-It]

Don't get me wrong, I fully realize I'm not the norm when it comes to the living room setup of the average console owner, but personally I'm a big fan of keeping wifi out of the consoles themselves.

Agreed. I've got my 360 hooked up to my router as well. The advantages of having an unfinished basement I suppose.

[Chris Nahr]

The PS3 60GB model (though not the Wii) has built-in WiFi and an ethernet jack. It's not like those are mutually exclusive.

[Moore]

The PS3 60GB model (though not the Wii) has built-in WiFi and an ethernet jack. It's not like those are mutually exclusive.

Right, but I'd only use the (cheap) jack. But I get to pay for wifi? fuck that.

[whatever7]

Right, but I'd only use the (cheap) jack. But I get to pay for wifi? fuck that.

WiFi cost maybe 2 bucks to include in the model. It's not reason the PS3 is expensive. The blu-ray drive is.

While you are at it, why don't you bitch at the chrome panel on the 60 gigger since you don't need it?

[Moore]

I do need that though. It's like a racing stripe, it makes it faster. Wait, I dont need it and wasnt really bitching, since I'm not buying a ps3 until it has a I want game out for it.

Which looks to happen.. huh.....

I'll let you know if I'm still alive.

[RickH]

Right, but I'd only use the (cheap) jack. But I get to pay for wifi? fuck that.

There's also the issue of PSP connectivity. Using the PSP as a remote viewer for content on the PS3 is an appealing feature.

[fuzzyslug]

I'm torn about this. On one hand, it makes the PS3 more expensive.

On the other, Microsoft's idea of multiple SKU's seem hasn't necessarily proven to be a good one. In Microsoft's case, you find yourself with consoles that are gimped in some way, limiting what you can do with the folks that paid up. You have memory cards for one. You have a hard drive on another. Adding an Elite version just muddles the whole thing, particularly in the case of the consumer. What does the damn thing cost, anyway?

Since I've been against the whole multiple SKU thing from the beginning, I think I'll say this is positive. There's one PS3. That sounds like a good thing. If that one system was cheaper, they'd be good.

[Dirt]

I don't completely understand what you'all are talking about. I just want to know if the price is coming down.

[Moore]

I don't completely understand what you'all are talking about. I just want to know if the price is coming down.

no, they just eliminated the low price SKU.

As for the psp thing, it'd be a nice feature if the psp screen didnt have a 100ms response time.

[Gunmetal]

Embarrassingly, I forgot my PS3 even had Wifi built-in. It's not a selling point that seems to get mentioned very often, it seems.
In my defense, all my systems sit on the same stand as my router, so it's not something I even thought about.

[DennyA]

WiFi does not cost $2.

Just because Fry's clears out two-year-old Wi-Fi cards for $15 doesn't mean the cost of goods is $2.

I'm not in manufacturing, but from stuff I've read, adding, say, $15 in parts (pure out-of-my-arse number for what Wi-Fi parts might cost for something like a game console) adds over $30 to the final price by the time you add in additional manufacturing steps, testing, retail markup, more parts to result in DOA machines, etc.

[JD]

Should be cheaper than $15 in mass production, and the fact that even the usually rather conservative Nintendo decided to make it a standard feature in their $250 box is quite telling.

-Julian

[Ex-S Woo]

Without Wifi, I think Nintendo would have a hard time justifying their $250 price given how there's nothing 'next-gen' about its innards.

[JD]

Without Wifi, I think Nintendo would have a hard time justifying their $250 price given how there's nothing 'next-gen' about its innards.
I personally think Joe Average wouldn't care whether it included WiFi at that price point or not. Quite a number of people don't even know what that means.

-Julian

[Chris Nahr]

Even the Nintendo DS has WiFi built in, and it's half the price of the Wii. So please... no hand-wringing about how horribly expensive WiFi would have made the 360. That's just laughable.

[DennyA]

No, but suppose internal Wi-Fi had pushed the price to $329/$429 instead of $299/399. Not a big increase overall, but it makes the system sound a lot more pricey.

I don't know what the reasoning was... I'm pretty sure that decision was made before I even joined MS. But I know the reason they don't want to add it now is (1) only a small percentage of users connect wirelessly, and (2) nobody wants to put in a/b/g wireless when N is around the corner. (And 802.11n is not final, and the current pre-N stuff out there in Macs, etc. could break when final standards arrive. Though apparently the estimated publish date for 802.11n is now freakin' October, 2008, by which time we'll probably be using Star Trek transporter technology to move data.)

[Chris Nahr]

Denny, we've already shot down these marketing talking points in another thread. Only a small percentage of 360 users connect wirelessly because it's not built in, and Microsoft is trying to rip them off with $99 WiFi adapters, so they settle for ethernet. That doesn't mean they wouldn't want to use wireless if it was available. Also, current WiFi standards are already way faster than any Internet connection. You'd only need n for home media streaming which I bet isn't any more popular than wireless routers.

Of course adding WiFi wouldn't automatically, inevitably increase the system price by any set amount of dollars. Companies set prices according to market considerations, not according to costs. The external adapter isn't sold at its actual total cost, either -- far from it. Nor did Sony remove WiFi from the $600 PS3 in order to reduce its losses on each console. The cost of adding WiFi is certainly not unreasonably high, as demonstrated by other devices with built-in WiFi, and other than that I don't care for Microsoft's costs and profits. That's their problem, not mine.

[JD]

No, but suppose internal Wi-Fi had pushed the price to $329/$429 instead of $299/399. Not a big increase overall, but it makes the system sound a lot more pricey.
Surely, Microsoft made a loss per unit already anyway when they launched the system, but they're past that point, and many people probably would have expected that a SKU titled "Elite" and aimed at a certain range of gamers would includeWiFi.

-Julian

[Ephraim]

(2) nobody wants to put in a/b/g wireless when N is around the corner. (And 802.11n is not final, and the current pre-N stuff out there in Macs, etc. could break when final standards arrive. Though apparently the estimated publish date for 802.11n is now freakin' October, 2008, by which time we'll probably be using Star Trek transporter technology to move data.)

You really don't need a final, published spec to make compatible gear. According to all the sources I've read, the current draft of 802.11n is solid enough that existing hardware that isn't 100% in compliance with the spec could easily be updated via firmware. The current batch of 802.11n draft 2.0 equipment out there interoperates very well, and all major Wi-Fi manufacturers are supporting it. There is no reason to not make draft 802.11n gear right now.