PS3 Price Cut To Follow End of Blu-ray Laser Shortage?

Via Ars Technica's Opposable Thumbs blog, a DigiTimes article reports that the shortage of Blue-ray lasers is ending. Back in April Sony Shiroishi Semiconductor, a maker of the blu-violet laser diodes needed to make the PlayStation 3, ramped up production to fully meet the needs of production for Sony's new console. As a result of more readily available components, the article theorizes that a price cut may be possible sometime later this year. "Until now, the question has been: how could Sony afford it? If the Blu-ray supply chain is indeed poised to pump out Blu-ray PUHs, perhaps this is the first major step to seeing $50 to $100 shaved off the cost of the console. Would $100 off the cost of the PS3 bring in more buyers? I don't think this can even be considered a serious question. With few exceptions, and leaving aside a handful of loyal fanboys, the PS3's biggest problem is its price. We look for a Sony price cut later this year if sales stay ho-hum."

Comments

Great

[rbarreira]

Great, now Sony can put even more Blu-Ray diodes inside PS3s which will be sitting on shelves...

Re:Think like a business...

[trdrstv]

Sony built a machine that is a ... computer (with a far more powerful processor than most people's home computers),

Yeah, but they only gave it 256 megs of addressable RAM. It's like buying a car with a V12 engine and Bicycle tires.

Is this speculation?

[7Prime]

Sony are already losing something like $400 per unit, I'm not convinced that blue diods will automatically cause Sony to lower their prices. Does someone have any evidence to back this up? Not that I don't want the price to drop (as much as I enjoy seeing horrible companies squirm), but until I hear more than pure conjecture, I'm not going to trust it.