Well, they shouldn't be counted as sales if you want to judge consumer driven choice, but they do mean there are now some 28,000 owners who game buy games, go online, buy BR movies, etc. which was obviously the idea. So they will impact, very likely positively, the local market.
Seems smart move to me as (even allowing for cost) one of the barriers for PS3 in territories where 360 has a strong foothold is overcoming the online community this builds - i.e. if people you know are onling with 360 and you want to play with them you're not going to buy a PS3. You can see this the most in US I believe.
Pushing PS3s in this way (even allowing for the fact some will be sold on) is a smart way of covering the cost with other sales (the TVs and future BR / Games revenue) while giving your install base and its attendant online community a rapid boost. If the results are really good it will aid follow on sales as well.
The cost would likely be too much but if I was Sony I'd consider something similar in US - say 65% off PS3 or something like that if not totally free. I suspect that the boost in online players coupled with follow on software/BR sales would be more than worth it. In fact if I was Sony I'd do this and throw in a game and a decent Warners movie to ensure the purchaser tries a BR movie and enjoys the game enough to want more. In US they could pre-install Warhawk for example - a really fun online game with a near enough free console and a nice HD TV sounds good, right?
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
