correct just your post alone, no one can argue 17,000 is barely ahead of 11,000

but luckily there are many variables people can consider to examine figures and not just take the base numbers there are many things to consider to make things relative, im not gonna even mention any other variables because its uselss on an internet forum where people have obviously drawn lines and refuse to discuss or acknowledge the aforementioned variables.  Its like pissing in the wind.

Is there some objective weekly sales figure that we can compare 17,000 to to determine its a failure compared to 11,000 after a year?  There is no benchmark, there is no comparison, each system is itw own monster, the systems of this geenration differ so greatly comparing their sales to determine their individual successes at this time is pointless. 

@Louie

Cute story!

I'm aware of Sony's financial position yes.  About $68 billion in revenue (I'm guessing that's the number you mean), $1.06 billion profit (or a measely 1.6% margin), debt of $11.3 billion (the interest alone must be near $1 billion a year).  Who assumes Sony is a small company?  Sony could cope with some losses except for the bad year they had last year and the scale of the losses they are facing.  This story is from 6 months ago about Sony's debt rating being reduced due to in part expected losses from the PS3 (which are much worse than were expected at the time) http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/11/sony-moves-a-step-closer-to-junk-outlook-negative/ Even very large companies like GM and Ford occassionaly get in too deep.  Anyways, I'm asking for actual reasons why Sony's "demise is exaggerated", saying it just can't be so isn't a reason.  If I am missing something financially point it out since apparently you know what it is, like I said I could be overlooking something. 

@albionus

But even with strong PS2 sales for fiscal 2006 they still lost over $2 billion in their gaming division.

That is something I wasn't thinking about, the PS2 will probably move around 4-5 million units and 50 million+ games this year.  Although I wonder to what extent that is accounted for in Sony's loss expectation for this year.  Maybe they are under estimating the PS2's sales since many people will just stick with their PS2 instead of buying a PS3 but even so I would think that would buy them maybe an extra quarter to get the PS3 in shape.

Yes because sony's debt include liabilities and revolving assets (sony has 100+ billion in assets). Sony has been in billions of debt before yet they always seem to spend more.

Sony has lost near a billion with the launch of the PS3 (more around 800 million+) and last year the 360 caost microsoft 1.26 for their fiscal year last year.

http://www.igniq.com/2006/10/xbox-360-losses-dont-worry-execs.html

Most importantly Sony's profits are based off of choices. I know it has been repeated often enough but I not think people have been looking at the movie studios, record labels, banks, electronic factories and phones that they own. The cost of researching, making, advertizing and putting them on the market must be through the roof. MS posts great profits because they do not need to turn around and sink that much money back into their cycles.

If Sony was really in for a fall I am pretty sure they would have caught it before you or anyone else speculating on their demise would and they would have planned for it, instead of throwing money behind their system. I am pretty sure their accountants (which probably are quite numerous) and market watchers would have gladly have the company set their sites on whatever will make the most profits for them. If they are not shying away from this it probably shows that they know the risk's and are still going full steam ahead.

It still makes me confused why people assume that Sony doesn't know what they are doing. They have been around longer than most of us. Took MANY product risks but have seem to take fewer financial hits in return. Look at their financial history and the motives behind their departments and you should not fail to be impressed.

"That is something I wasn't thinking about, the PS2 will probably move around 4-5 million units and 50 million+ games this year.  Although I wonder to what extent that is accounted for in Sony's loss expectation for this year.  Maybe they are under estimating the PS2's sales since many people will just stick with their PS2 instead of buying a PS3 but even so I would think that would buy them maybe an extra quarter to get the PS3 in shape."

Or maybe they factored it in..... You see the PS2 as a hit to their profits (take away PS3 sales) Maybe they see at as additional profit ( because the people buying the PS2 probably would not have invested in a next gen system anyways). How people turn the sales of the PS2 into a bad thing amazes me. 

Again, Sony's own most recent loss estimate was around 250 billion yen ($2 billion US) for the last fiscal year in the gaming division. 100 billion was last years esimate until they revised it.

You may be right (I really don't know) but Sony wouldn't be the first massive company that didn't see their own demise ahead of time ... American automobile manufacturers are the prime example of this being that 10 years ago it was obvious that they were in trouble yet they did nothing about it until it became too late.

Sony completely botched the Walkman brand. If they knew what they were doing, how could they let Apple completely steal that market?