Sony plans on dropping the Cell?

[sieanr]

http://www.hdgamenews.com/2007/09/playstation-4-is-sony-quietly-exiting.html

Ok, so you already know about the factory being sold off.

But this is where things get interesting; "The move follows Sony's announcement last year that it intends to reduce spending on the next-generation chip to succeed the Cell, which is used in Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 3 video game console. Under a strategy of selectively consolidating its semiconductor operations,Sony plans to beef up its image sensor business while jettisoning the Cell."

First off, I never knew Sony had plans to cut R & D on the Cells sucessor. It could be that Sony has decided to get an off the shelf part, or contract the design out. Now you may thing they are just spending money on updating the Cell, but that doesn't appear to be the case either.

Also interesting is their interest in expanding their camera line at the evident expense of tha gaming division. Not too long ago Sony purchased Konika-Minolta for no small chunk of change, and recently they have started becomming agressive in the DSLR market. It could be that recent changes in managment have caused a shift in prioities, as well as the camera market being relativly profitiable - especially when acting as a sensor supplier.

Anyone know anything else about this?

(BTW, I think the part about exiting the gaming market is bull)