Actually, no one is predicting anything. Further, the article is incorrect.
For the fiscal year of '07, Sony reported 5.5 million units shipped (by shipped they meant 'manufactured') and 3.6 million units sold (by sold they meant shipped). They also stated they'd ship 11 million during fiscal '08.
The next quarter, they said they were still expecting 11 million shipped, but they were now counting units actually shipped to stores as shipped/sold. This means that 1.9 million of the 5.5 million units they 'shipped' during fiscal '07 would also be shipped during fiscal '08, putting their projection at 14.6 million units shipped total, not 16.5.
Even so, this is an old claim Sony did a long time ago and nothing new having to do with the $400 model.
Correct and exactly what I just tried to articulate above. Because of the way Sony changed their numbers, they actually downard revised their forecast to 14.6 million units from 16.5 million units total by the end of fiscal '08. This seems to confuse financial analysts greatly, which must have been Sony's intention since it confuses them in a way that is very favorable to Sony.
