PS3 European Launch 23 March, $835

Andy_R writes "Sony has finally committed themselves to a European launch date for the PS3, after disappointing European fans by not having the promised worldwide simultaneous launch, then missing the lucrative Christmas period. The BBC is reporting that the console will arrive on the 23rd of March. EU fans will only be getting the 60Gb version at first, and it will be priced at 599 Euros or 425 pounds in Britain. At today's exchange rates, that's US$ 835.99! From the article: 'A problem manufacturing blue diodes, used in high-definition Blu-ray disc drives, forced the Japanese firm to announce another delay but only for European customers. Sony said the decision was made because Europe was logistically the most complex market for distribution."

Comments

Re:At last

[Darkfred]

Technically with the minimum 15%-20% VAT tax (always included in price) that is nearly the same as the US price ($600-700) depending on VAT. Of course they aren't flying off the shelves here in the US.

Re:Good plan Sony!

[DrEldarion]

Uh, the version most people want to buy is the 60GB, unless Europe's market is radically different from the US's... The 20GBs were a LOT harder to unload than the 60GB ones were (from what I saw with eBay), and were easily available far before you could get a 60GB.

Re:At last

[zoney_ie]

Or even 21% VAT here in Ireland, where unfortunately we don't quite have pots of gold despite all the tall tales.

The bigger question is what the package deals will be priced at. Even now you would be hard pushed to get a decent Xbox 360 full package (HDD etc.) with a game or two for much less than €500. Unsurprisingly, although there are buyers, it's not a must-have item that everyone is going for.

The one thing that people have been going for like rabid ferrets is the DS lite, those sold out again a couple of times before Christmas - esp. the black ones. In fact, the prices are now far higher than back in late Autumn - profiteering shops.

Getting consumer items in Ireland can be expensive too because of moron distributors insisting on routing things through the UK, despite our using the euro here. Generally this costs more as there are more agents who have to take a cut. Also UK companies have a belittling attitude to Ireland and seem to regard it as an annoying exception - heck, half of them even have problems sending stuff in their own country to Scotland or Northern Ireland, or even odder places like, oh no, Channel Islands (OK so technically that last place isn't in the EU).

NOTE: WHEN WILL SLASHDOT ALLOW EURO SYMBOL DIRECTLY TYPED INTO POSTS?! ARGH!