We've been hearing for months that Sony's "Torne" PlayStation E3 digital video recording kit has been a success, but we never got solid sales figures to back the claim up. Today, Sankei newsdelivered something a bit more solid.
According to the site, from April to September, the ¥9,980 device sold 420,000 units.
Torne was actually released in March. The site did not provide specific life to date figure. However, initial sales in late March appeared to be strong, suggesting that the device may have actually topped the half million mark.
Similar to the PlayStation 3 itself, Sony has been upgrading Torne's functionality. In late June, it releasedthe device's first major firmware update, which added triple speed recording and the ability to watch programs while recording.
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio's creative director Manabu Nishizawa hinted at more updates for the device, telling Sankei that Sony is reading additional functionality for the end of year.
Torne features in Sony's year end hardware plans as well. The company will be bundling the device with a high capacity PlayStation 3. (Further details here).
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/10/20/ps3_dvr_kit_torne_update/
IIRC the first shipment in March was 30k which sold out in a few hours and there was another shipment later that week so sales should be right around 500k. I've said even before its release that Torne would be a longterm hardware pusher. It's probably one of the main things that's kept the PS3 baselining in the 20ks for so long. :edit: First week sales were 62k.
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