Spirit
07-10-2003, 06:32 PM
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MAKUHARI, Japan INSERT INTO post VALUES (Reuters) - Sony Corp says it will launch the "PSX" all-in-one game console and entertainment system for 79,800 yen INSERT INTO post VALUES (430 pounds) in Japan later this year, in a bid to boost the company's sagging electronics sales.
Analysts said the price may sound high for a game console but that it would attract consumers looking to buy a DVD recorder.
Sony, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, said the PSX would feature a satellite TV tuner, DVD recorder, hard disk drive INSERT INTO post VALUES (HDD) recorder and PlayStation 2 INSERT INTO post VALUES (PS2) game player.
A version with a 160-gigabyte HDD will sell for 79,800 yen and be able to record up to 204 hours of television, the company said. It will also sell a 250-gigabyte version for 99,800 yen.
"The price was in line with our expectations and it is likely to have a solid appeal for buyers of DVD recorders," said Masahiro Ono, a senior analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.
As a comparison, Sony will also start selling a DVD recorder with a 160-gigabyte HDD in November at a retail price of around 100,000 yen. Rival Pioneer plans to begin offering a similar DVD recorder the same month for around 140,000 yen.
"PSX's price sounds very cheap," a Pioneer spokeswoman said. "But we have to look closely at the PSX as it may lack some of the functions on our product. We can't compare the two just because their HDDs are the same size."
Tadanobu Kawano, a 26-year-old game fan in Wakayama prefecture, said: "It sounds cheap, especially since it's Sony's. But whether I will buy it or not may depend on the design."
Kawano already has Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation2 as well as Nintendo's GameCube console and Microsoft's Xbox.
Credit Suisse's Ono estimated the cost of making a 160-gigabyte PSX at 70,000 yen, excluding promotion and marketing. The price would bring Sony "some profits", he said.
Sony Chief Executive Nobuyuki Idei, speaking to reporters at a technology industry show in Makuhari, near Tokyo, said there was no shipment target for the PSX in Japan and that details of the machine's overseas debut had not been decided.
In May, Idei said that one of the growth strategies for Sony's electronics business would be to integrate it with the company's profit-making games division.
Sony plans to market the PSX as a consumer electronics product and aims to pitch the box as a do-everything entertainment console for games, music and movies.
The company's games division has developed cutting-edge semiconductors for the PS2 and the original PlayStation, but it is the upcoming PlayStation machine that has people buzzing about the integration of electronics and games.
Sony plans to invest 500 billion yen over the next three years in semiconductors, including research and development for a high-powered microprocessor codenamed "cell" that is being developed with Toshiba and IBM.
The chip is expected to power Sony's next-generation game console, but the company aims to make "cell" the global standard for consumer electronics in the high-speed Internet era.
Seeking to grab a large slice of the crowded but lucrative worldwide videogame market, Nokia was set to launch its new combined cellphone and game machine, N-Gage, on Tuesday.
Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, said on Monday that the N-Gage would be on sale in over 30,000 stores globally, challenging to wrest control of the market for handheld videogames from Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.
Sony is scheduled to enter the handheld market next year with its PSP device, which will also play music and movies.
MAKUHARI, Japan INSERT INTO post VALUES (Reuters) - Sony Corp says it will launch the "PSX" all-in-one game console and entertainment system for 79,800 yen INSERT INTO post VALUES (430 pounds) in Japan later this year, in a bid to boost the company's sagging electronics sales.
Analysts said the price may sound high for a game console but that it would attract consumers looking to buy a DVD recorder.
Sony, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, said the PSX would feature a satellite TV tuner, DVD recorder, hard disk drive INSERT INTO post VALUES (HDD) recorder and PlayStation 2 INSERT INTO post VALUES (PS2) game player.
A version with a 160-gigabyte HDD will sell for 79,800 yen and be able to record up to 204 hours of television, the company said. It will also sell a 250-gigabyte version for 99,800 yen.
"The price was in line with our expectations and it is likely to have a solid appeal for buyers of DVD recorders," said Masahiro Ono, a senior analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.
As a comparison, Sony will also start selling a DVD recorder with a 160-gigabyte HDD in November at a retail price of around 100,000 yen. Rival Pioneer plans to begin offering a similar DVD recorder the same month for around 140,000 yen.
"PSX's price sounds very cheap," a Pioneer spokeswoman said. "But we have to look closely at the PSX as it may lack some of the functions on our product. We can't compare the two just because their HDDs are the same size."
Tadanobu Kawano, a 26-year-old game fan in Wakayama prefecture, said: "It sounds cheap, especially since it's Sony's. But whether I will buy it or not may depend on the design."
Kawano already has Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation2 as well as Nintendo's GameCube console and Microsoft's Xbox.
Credit Suisse's Ono estimated the cost of making a 160-gigabyte PSX at 70,000 yen, excluding promotion and marketing. The price would bring Sony "some profits", he said.
Sony Chief Executive Nobuyuki Idei, speaking to reporters at a technology industry show in Makuhari, near Tokyo, said there was no shipment target for the PSX in Japan and that details of the machine's overseas debut had not been decided.
In May, Idei said that one of the growth strategies for Sony's electronics business would be to integrate it with the company's profit-making games division.
Sony plans to market the PSX as a consumer electronics product and aims to pitch the box as a do-everything entertainment console for games, music and movies.
The company's games division has developed cutting-edge semiconductors for the PS2 and the original PlayStation, but it is the upcoming PlayStation machine that has people buzzing about the integration of electronics and games.
Sony plans to invest 500 billion yen over the next three years in semiconductors, including research and development for a high-powered microprocessor codenamed "cell" that is being developed with Toshiba and IBM.
The chip is expected to power Sony's next-generation game console, but the company aims to make "cell" the global standard for consumer electronics in the high-speed Internet era.
Seeking to grab a large slice of the crowded but lucrative worldwide videogame market, Nokia was set to launch its new combined cellphone and game machine, N-Gage, on Tuesday.
Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, said on Monday that the N-Gage would be on sale in over 30,000 stores globally, challenging to wrest control of the market for handheld videogames from Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.
Sony is scheduled to enter the handheld market next year with its PSP device, which will also play music and movies.