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Sony May Outsource PSP Production
SCE president Ken Kutaragi has confirmed that PSP production may be outsourced to another company, as demand for the PSP is already outstripping Sony's ability to produce. GamesIndustry.biz has the story, which points out that the handheld console is still not released in Europe, an event anticipated in early September. From the article: "At present, there is only one factory producing PSP consoles - the Kisarazu facility east of Tokyo, which manufactures around one million units per month. Sony has previously announced plans to double this figure by the summer as it continues the fight to compete with Nintendo."
This is the most exciting news regarding third party manufacture I've seen all day. I think I'm going to have to go lie down.
...pull some of the PSPs off the shelf that are just collecting dust at stores here in the US!
My dog poops tootsie rolls. Mmm-Mmm.
This doesn't make sense. According to The Magic Box, only 870,000 have been sold this year in Japan. That's only 174,000 per month, and I can't imagine that the demand is high enough in other parts of the world, especially not enough to make 2 million per month necessary.
As others have already pointed out, there is no way that Sony has been selling a million a month.
Sony is looking to outsource the production of the PSP to cut costs. They already loose an arm and a leg on every unit produced and this is a way to reduce the amount of bleeding.
If they do outsource production , they do it to a company that is going to actualy test the TFT screens . . .
I know all the crap about Dead Pixels are to be expected , But as i just said its crap
The screen is really rather small and i have 2 dead pixels on it which is completly silly
IThey are not that annoying and are out of the way but its the principle of the thing , on a screen of that size its fairly resonible to expect no dead pixels and from what ive heard its fairly commen on the PSP.
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HOLY CRAP, THEYRE SELLING LIKE MAD! WE CANT MAKE PSP's FAST ENOUGH!!
Sony PSP! Only $250 at your nearest store! Go get one before theyre all gone forever!
What, this doesnt seem like marketing BS to the submitter or editor?
I'd be concerned about the quality of an outsourced PSP, but conisdering the reported problems with the Sony-Produced ones (I don't have one myself, mostly due to the fact that I have trouble droping $250 on something that will break if I sit on it yet will fit in my back pocket), maybe 3rd party PSPs will be better.
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...will be posting to this thread for sure. Just wait and see what they submit. I think they should start a support group.
To those who think the PSP isn't selling a million units a month, I think you may want to check your facts first. Not only is the PSP selling like hotcakes even at the $250 price point, but the Nintendo DS is essentially dead in the water as far as sales go. The software library for the DS is pitiful and there are more titles for the PSP, which has been out for two months, than there are for the DS (which has been out for seven months). And the quality of titles for PSP is much greater. Nintendo is largely out of touch with what the market wants, despite all of their hubbub about what they think is going to sell.
I don't think it is necessary to outsource the PSP. If demand continues like this, they can keep the price at $250 much longer and sell more units. When demand starts to drop, just lower the price a little. Demand is not at such a high level as to justify a second factory without it oversaturating the market.
Outstrip Sony's ability to produce them in quantity? Or outstrip Sony's ability to produce them with quality? I think it's the latter. Over the past month, I've been to my three local Target stores. They each have about 20 PSPs sitting behind the glass cases, in each store. I haven't gotten one myself because I'm still paranoid about defects. But I don't have any worries about finding one to purchase.
I'd be interested if Sony announced this a few weeks/months after launching, but now? This just says cheap last minute marketing attempt. Run the numbers and Nintendo is killing Sony in the handheld industry. Sony hasn't dented the GBA, the DS is outselling the PSP, DS games are outselling PSP games, and Nintendo isn't taking a huge loss for each DS unit sold. Throw in PSP defects and the fact that they delayed the European launch (read : STILL hasn't launched) and Sony is getting burned worse than Microsoft did when it launched the Xbox.
As many have already posted, Sony is almost certainly not selling a million PSPs per month. And they are losing a lot of money for each hardware sale. Both of these are strong incentives to reduce costs. Indeed, the slippage of the European release date may have more to do with throttling the money hemorrhage than a problem supplying PSPs to that market. So I would wildly speculate that what they really want to do is drop the price before Xmas and perhaps even act as a foil to the Xbox 360 release, not to mention compete a little better with the DS on price. In order to lower the price any further, they have to get production cost down. Finally, a 3rd party may have more success in certain quality issues like the oft mentioned dead pixel problems.
This of course is just wild speculation!
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I can't help wondering if it doesn't have something to do with the fact that you can't actually see a PSP anywhere.
When I go into stores, they all have a display model Nintendo DS you can play with. I haven't seen a PSP anywhere, and I don't know anyone who owns one. The stores won't open them up for demo either. What are Sony thinking--that we're all going to rush out and drop $250 on a handheld gaming system without even seeing it first?
I'm a big Wipeout fan, so I'm looking forward to seeing a PSP. But I'm not gonna buy one until I do.
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I bought mine a few days ago, it's insane how many features they've managed to pack in there. The place I got it from (Best Buy) had only one non-demo model left. The sales guy said they don't often keep a stock of them, so one can assume that (at least where I live) the PSP is doing pretty well. Several friends of mine waited on the DS until the PSP came out, I think once they get a look at it they'll be out there picking one up. :)
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demand for the PSP is already outstripping Sony's ability to produce
I spit Jolt Cola all over my monitor, you insensitive clod!
"The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network
Here educate yourselves and quit making baseless accusations and stupid comments.
"Twelve million units apiece of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable consoles will be shipped worldwide in the financial year through to March 31st, 2006, according to the latest projections released by Sony.
The figures would bring worldwide shipments of the PSP to around 15 million units by the end of the financial year, while the PlayStation 2 - which currently has a global installed base of well over 80 million units - would be within shouting distance of 100 million units."
LTFA
America Drives Global Sony PSP Sales Underground
PSP sales hit 500,000 mark in US
PSP Not Even Close to Selling Out
Assorted PSP news links etc