Sony: Price Doesn't Make or Break a Platform

[Treaos Serrare]

sony has this cockamamie idea that since people will(for god only knows what reason) will pay out the ass for I-pods pads and everything else "I" in nature. even if it costs a lot to make you'll make that money back by selling it cheaper, as it will fly off the shelves if it is an actually reasonable price to the CONSUMER not some ASSHOLE who gets a raise based on the sales revenue

 

[BabyRaptor]

Price isn't a big deal? Yeah...Maybe to you. Those of us who live in reality, on the other hand...

 

[StBishop]

I'm sorry, wait. Excuse me?!

$299.00 for a PS3?

WHAT?

When the fuck did this happen??!?!??
They're like $700.00 in Australia! I knew we paied more for games but what the fuck man?

They were A THOUSAND dollars on release!

What the FUCK?

Also, say people saying smart phones are less than $200.00. iPhone 3GS is still like $1000.00 here.

What's wrong with our economy?

At least it's only luxuries that are rediculously expensive. I mean, I broke my hand last year and it cost me nothing to go in, get an xray and get a cast on it, then another xray to make sure it set properly. This was all my fault mind, I was drunk when I tried to split the ground by jumping into the air and punching the ground as hard as I could. (Ever watch Street Sharks?)

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Sadly when you look at the speed of the PS3's sales right next to the 360, had it not been for the 360's year headstart the sales are pretty much neck and neck.

 

[VanityGirl]

He raises an interesting point. While of course his position as PR guy means that obviously he's going to spin things for the company, I don't think he's entirely wrong. As another posted stated, look at Apple. People happily pay twice as much or more than equivalent PCs/laptops because they trust the quality of the brand.

I know youve been quoted before, but I'd like to add my own insight on what you've said.

You can't truthfully compare Apple and Sony. Apple has massive quality and the price on Macbooks has decreased a good bit now a days. Also, when we look at it, Apple can not outsell a cheaper laptop like Dell. People want quality, but they also need something that fits their budget. This is the ebb and flow of how the world works. People want the cheaper thing. It's why we still have dollar stores (bad joke).

Also I couldn't get a good sales figure on Apple because the Iphones were included in their sales. I was going to compare Macbook sales versus Dell Laptop sales in Q4 of 2010, but that didn't pan out.

Here's why I don't think the PSP2 (that's what it is) will do well starting off:
-we honestly don't know much about it, what games are being released for it, ect.
-the price for a handheld is $300, I could get a cheaper handheld with a 3D gimmick for $50 cheaper that already has some good games for it.
-if it is delayed on production/shipping because of the quakes, there could be a underproduction or shortage of the handheld which would only hurt Sony.


I can't even afford a 3DS right now, but when it drops in price I'll get it. Then, when I wait for a year or two, maybe the price of the PSP2 will drop and I'll get one.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

He raises an interesting point. While of course his position as PR guy means that obviously he's going to spin things for the company, I don't think he's entirely wrong. As another posted stated, look at Apple. People happily pay twice as much or more than equivalent PCs/laptops because they trust the quality of the brand.

I know youve been quoted before, but I'd like to add my own insight on what you've said.

You can't truthfully compare Apple and Sony. Apple has massive quality and the price on Macbooks has decreased a good bit now a days. Also, when we look at it, Apple can not outsell a cheaper laptop like Dell. People want quality, but they also need something that fits their budget. This is the ebb and flow of how the world works. People want the cheaper thing. It's why we still have dollar stores (bad joke).

Also I couldn't get a good sales figure on Apple because the Iphones were included in their sales. I was going to compare Macbook sales versus Dell Laptop sales in Q4 of 2010, but that didn't pan out.

Here's why I don't think the PSP2 (that's what it is) will do well starting off:
-we honestly don't know much about it, what games are being released for it, ect.
-the price for a handheld is $300, I could get a cheaper handheld with a 3D gimmick for $50 cheaper that already has some good games for it.
-if it is delayed on production/shipping because of the quakes, there could be a underproduction or shortage of the handheld which would only hurt Sony.


I can't even afford a 3DS right now, but when it drops in price I'll get it. Then, when I wait for a year or two, maybe the price of the PSP2 will drop and I'll get one.

As far as Apple, what amuses me about their price is about 90% of the price increase has nothing to do with quality. It's because Macs don't come with 3rd party software pre-installed. PCs are so much cheaper because other companies pay to have their programs pre-installed, thereby allowing them to lower the cost for consumers without decreasing profit margins.

The most amusing part is that if you aren't tech-savvy enough to remove them yourself, or want to ensure all the files are removed (uninstalls don't always kill all the files), for $20 Best Buy (i.e. Geek Squad) will remove them for you.


As far as the PSP2, like you said, we know nothing about it. It could end up being worth the $300, at least for some consumers. As I pointed out in another post, when my husband and I bought our PS3, we didn't see it as paying $400 for a console. We saw it as paying $150 for a Blu-Ray player (about the price as other Blu-Ray players my husband was looking at at the time), and $250 for a gaming console. This drastically changed the value for us compared to other people.

Until we see what features the PSP2 has, it's hard to say if the value is there. For example, if it can take movies you've bought on PSN and let you pre-load by connecting to your PS3 or download over the internet, that will add value for some people. If it doubles as an MP3 player, that adds value. etc. etc. etc.

Now, this increase in value will vary from person to person, depending on what functionality interests them.

So I just think it's unreasonable to blast them on the price when we don't know what it's going to do. I mean, a lot of people bitched and moaned about the $250 for the 3DS, but now I've been hearing most people say it's well worth it.

 

[Luke Cartner]

considering my 'droid can do 90% of what the NGP can do, can can even play the same games due to sony using the android market; I fail to see why price isn't a critical issue as if you price it over say $150 people will simply ask what the point is if they can play it on there phone...

 

[RicoADF]

I'm sorry, wait. Excuse me?!

$299.00 for a PS3?

WHAT?

When the fuck did this happen??!?!??
They're like $700.00 in Australia! I knew we paied more for games but what the fuck man?

They were A THOUSAND dollars on release!

What the FUCK?

Also, say people saying smart phones are less than $200.00. iPhone 3GS is still like $1000.00 here.

What's wrong with our economy?

At least it's only luxuries that are rediculously expensive. I mean, I broke my hand last year and it cost me nothing to go in, get an xray and get a cast on it, then another xray to make sure it set properly. This was all my fault mind, I was drunk when I tried to split the ground by jumping into the air and punching the ground as hard as I could. (Ever watch Street Sharks?)

PS3 is $499 now (or is it $399, lost track). Reguardless, the reason the cost is so high is shipping. I'm doing a business class and shipping is EXTREMLY expensive to Australia, beause we import and don't export many products (we export resources but they can't be loaded onto a cargo ship, only exports for cargo ships are cars). So import costs are higher to cover the cost of the return voyage for the ship.

I got a PS3 for $1000 on release (with CoD3). It was good value for money to me, as I saw it as an entertainment system not just a gaming platform (as blurays were around $800-1000 at the time), and at that it's performed well and I consider it worth the $ (use it to watch bluray and DVD as much as Ive played games). However if someone just wants to play games, I can see where its price was too high to handle.

 

[StBishop]

PS3 is $499 now (or is it $399, lost track). Reguardless, the reason the cost is so high is shipping. I'm doing a business class and shipping is EXTREMLY expensive to Australia, beause we import and don't export many products (we export resources but they can't be loaded onto a cargo ship, only exports for cargo ships are cars). So import costs are higher to cover the cost of the return voyage for the ship.

I got a PS3 for $1000 on release (with CoD3). It was good value for money to me, as I saw it as an entertainment system not just a gaming platform (as blurays were around $800-1000 at the time), and at that it's performed well and I consider it worth the $ (use it to watch bluray and DVD as much as Ive played games). However if someone just wants to play games, I can see where its price was too high to handle.

They're like $488.00 - $530.00 (depending on how much storage you want) from GAME. That's the online price.
They've gone down a bit in the last 12 months, which I wasn't expecting.
I still hold that complaining about $300.00 for a PS3 is silly. I mean come on. that's the price of 3 games here. Or the price of a 3DS. (I'm pretty sure they're actually $340.00).