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Sony offers Microsoft free gift as PS3 misses spring launch
(independent)
Updated: 2006-02-21 11:47 The much-hyped launch of
Sony's Playstation 3 console, which is tipped to revolutionise home
entertainment, looked to have run into trouble yesterday after it emerged the
Japanese electronics giant was still waiting for the green light on some of the
machine's nuts and bolts.
Analysts warned a spring debut looked unrealistic because Sony is still
waiting for final specifications on some of the key technology that the new
console will offer. The company itself admitted that the launch "could be pushed
back" if final specifications, which are decided by industry consortiums, are
not decided soon.
The Japanese group is aiming to storm our living rooms with the PS3, which
will do much more than just play games. Electronics companies are battling to be
the first to launch a viable one-stop home entertainment box that will render
separate consoles and DVD players obsolete.
Sony hopes that victory for the PS3 will enable it to dictate the future of
more than just the video games console market. The machine will feature a
Blu-Ray drive, one of two competing technologies vying to replace DVDs in much
the same way that VHS fought Betamax to the death all those years ago. The rival
format, HD-DVD, is being backed by Microsoft, and appears on the Xbox 360.
A delay by Sony leaves the door wide open for Microsoft to mop up market
share with its own next-generation console, the Xbox 360, which hit the shops in
the UK in time for last Christmas.
A spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment yesterday said the PS3 would be
"one of the cheapest Blu-Ray players on the market so will accelerate growth
into people's homes". The Playstation 2, which was launched in 1999, was one of
the first devices to features a DVD drive, helping to fuel the take up of what
was then a new technology.
The PS3, which has yet to be priced but is likely to be well under ￡300, will
also offer a range of multimedia functions in addition to playing computer
games, including audio and video streaming, digital photo storage, internet
access and video chat.
"It has been designed to be the centre point of entertainment for your living
room," the spokesman added. He added that the company had not officially
abandoned its plans for a spring launch.
Merrill Lynch warned in a research note last week that the cost of making the
PS3 was rocketing and could end up being $900 per unit. This means Sony will
have to take a huge loss on each console or risk ceding even more market share
to Microsoft.
The other new-generation console being primed for the market is Nintendo's
Revolution, which is also expected to launch some time later this
year.
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