The overall impression here is that Sony really can't afford to sell the PS3 for less than US$599 retail. They're sacrificing sales of an existing successful Teen-rated title, Motorstorm, to help move the system, which is a good move and doesn't add much in terms of real manufacturing cost. But if the 60GB model is just being cleared out at $499, it appears that Sony is swallowing a further loss on those already-built consoles just to get them out of the warehouse. They're not saving anything beyond ongoing storage costs.
I would guess that the PS3 manufacturing cost actually HAS come down since launch, but apparently not enough to facilitate a price drop. The best outcome here is some market share growth for the PS3 -- but if this attempt to clear stock backfires and the systems still don't sell, it could end up looking REALLY bad this holiday season. And even if Sony sells all 2 million 60GB models on hand at the clearance price, they still won't be ahead of the 360 or the Wii.
If this is all true, it looks like one step forward... one step back.
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