the PS3 will be 399 when they release the 65nm chipset and it will be either 100-160 gigs. ***read below for detailed explanation***

This will happen sometime next year or the year after. The PS3 and sony will be fine this holiday without another price drop this year, they'll end up in 3rd place overall this holiday but that doesn't mean sony will go bankrupt or go into panic as they'll have enough games to hold their own. When sony happens to release the 45nm (or 65nm, whatever it is) processor PS3, they will drop the 80 gig model to 399.99 or 349.99 while the 45nm processor ps3 will stay at 499.99. Once the 80gig PS3 is sold out, sony will drop the price of the 45nm PS3 to 399 or 349.99 during late 2008 to 2009. Thats what i predict

*****EDIT: due to some new found information, i updated this list*****

~2006~ november launch
20gig 90nm PS3 EE - 499.99 USD - Phased Out
60gig 90nm PS3 EE - 599.99 USD
~2007~ July 12
60gig 90nm PS3 EE - 499.99 USD
~2007~ August
60gig 90nm PS3 EE - 499.99 USD
80gig 65nm PS3 no EE - 599.99 USD
~2007~ end of 4th quarter to early 2008
60gig 90nm PS3 EE - Sold out and discontinued
80gig 65nm PS3 no EE - 499.99 or maybe 449.99 USD (announced during TGS)
~2008~ 3rd quarter to 2009
80gig 65nm PS3 no EE - 399.99 or maybe 349.99 USD
~2009~
80gig 65nm PS3 no EE - Possible 50 dollar price drop, but we will see more bundles from sony to increase value (GT5 bundle at 399.99 or 349.99 is what i believe will most likely happen)
~2010~
80gig 45nm? PS3 no EE (newer model, reduced size and slimmer) - 235.99 to 249.99 by holidays

 This is my (UPDATED) prediction, what do you all think?

60 gigs was plenty, 80 gigs is now more than plenty, no body cares about more harddrive space, we need the price down asap. I think your prediction is too jumbled, if sony were smart theyd stick with the 80 and beat the price down as fast as possible because 80 gigs is a lot of flippin room to save video games.....and with the user upgradable harddrives, anyone needing more should be capable of doing it themselves.

Naw 60 gigs aint nowhere near plenty, if your planning on getting all that content coming to the ps network in the coming months.

I would say that, if things come out as you say, Sony would get screwed big time. 2010 without mass market prices would be deadly for the PS3.

If that were true, I don't know how many chambers the gun were to have, and I don't think Sony has that many feet.

you know sony shouldnt even worry about any more gigabytes after 80gb. the only people that will really use that space are people who dont know how to delete things, and they will install their own HD anyway.

 Well, i do agree if you. I just didn't go into specifics about price drops after the 45nm model is the only and main SKU sony offers. I do believe that by the 2010 holidays the PS3 will be priced at 239-250 USD... as a slimmer model ofcourse.

My prediction is mostly affected by the 45nm model that is in production. Sony is going to phase out the 80gig model like the 60 gig inorder to reduce the price of the 45nm model. Sony is surely not going to have both the 90nm model sitting side by side with the 45 nm model on store shelves with no extra incentives to buy the 90 nm. This is why i believe they are going to attemp to add more harddrive space, especially if PSN network is supposed to expand into some kind of HD movie store.  

umm ... the 80GB is 65nm, the 60GB before being phased out switched to 65nm.

 EDIT: hrmm ok i found a couple of sources on this, Sony just never annouced the full specs for the 80 gig yet. So the 80gb PS3 in Korea and US is a 65nm chip. I always knew IBM started production of the 65 nm chips during march of this year, i just didn't think sony would have gotten it in their systems that quickly.

I can see it more like this:

July 2007
60gig PS3 EE - $499

August 2007
60gig PS3 EE - $499
80gig PS3 no EE - $599

4th Quarter 2007
60gig PS3 EE - discountinued
80gig PS3 no EE - $499 (possibly $449)

2nd-3rd Quarter 2008
80gig PS3 no EE - $399
100-160gig PS3 no EE - announced

1st-2nd Quarter 2009
80gig PS3 no EE - discontinued
100-160gig PS3 no EE - $399

3rd-4th Quarter 2009
100-160gig PS3 no EE - $299

2nd-3rd Quarter 2010
100-160gig PS3 no EE - $199-$249