As we know, Sony has made 4 SKUs throughout 2007. It may have diversified the choice for consumers, but it left them puzzled and confused on which model to choose. Now, if Sony had started out with just one model (the 60GB), it would have been better, but the price is/would still be $600. Don't yell at me yet, though. If Sony just continued this model, with manufacturing costs lowering in the ongoing months Sony could lower the price gradually.
Here's the change; everyone knows that you can change the hard drive on the PS3, right? Why couldn't Sony have just released (in stores and online) some hard drives you could have just purchased without any other SKUs? Without doing hardware revisions like they did in 2007 and removing parts within the system, Sony could have kept just the 60GB model and announced, "You can also purchase either our removeable hard drives or a select name brand that supports our PS3 system." So before a consumer first uses their purchased PS3 at home, they have an option to go to a Circuit City/Best Buy (I only have those two electronic stores near me for example, sorry). I do know that the PS3 uses 2.5" Serial ATA hard drives, which are found on laptops, so it would be ideal for Sony to just keep one SKU to use and tell consumers (or have told consumers) from the start that you can format the hard drive as you see fit.
Who would agree with me here? Sony could have still made another SKU, like a slimmed model later down. This would have eased sales for the console with one SKU and the usage of using a different hard drive. But still, the PS3 has Blu-Ray and the Cell, but manufacturing costs are decreasing and it would be cheaper to produce.
