Always puzzles me why I see people posting beliefs that the 360 has dropped price very quickly and the PS3 has held the line. Fact of the matter is when the 360 launched in 2005 the SKUs were 2.
1 without any memory device at all sold for $299
1 with a HDD and HD cables sold for $399
Fast forward to 2009
1 with a memory card, but no HDD sells for $199
1 with a HDD and no HD cables sells for $299
The 360 is going to have an awesomely profitable quarter with profitable hardware (both skus), very profitable accessories, very profitable software. A high percentage of every Arcade sold will turn into a profitable HDD sale in the future. The 360 business will have the resources in 2010 to cut the retail price of the Arcade by $50-$70 and the Elite by $100 and then revamp the whole line with a new redesigned line at the end of the year that is built with the ability to have the Natal processing inside the box. This will result in a new SKU with Natal built in as well as Natal available as a standalone accessory. Something like the following:
Arcade $129-$149
HDD SKU $199 - Doesnt make sense calling it Elite any longer
Natal SKU $249-$299
Standalone Natal selling for $99
360 marketshare will start increasing again and will be first HD console to hit 50 million. GT5 is Sony last premium IP to release that has any chance of pushing hardware sales and its power to do that has been diminished by GT5P, hardware sales already 32+ million. Look at FFXIII in Japan for instance the PS3 sales increased by about 150K the first week over what the naturally occuring increase whould have been simply because of holiday spending. GT5 will have less of an impact.
Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.
