Sony fans like to keep their hopes pumped up. Can't blame em =)

I remember that when Gates told they had sold 10.4 million consoles everybody was saying he was giving shipped numbers and that the amount of consoles was some millions behind .After this site numbers it was 2.6 millions in Europe ,300K in Japan and 5 million in USA for a total of 7.9 millions .PS3 will end its first year closing to 9 million ,even reaching 9 million if the European sales increase a bit (its possible as the holidays start today in fact ) .

Good numbers for Sony .

 Sony finished its first year over a month ago.

Wait a sec, you're saying that they will see around 575k for the week of Christimas; almost on par with the week before, despite the fact that it will only have two major selling days.

Now I can se quite a few purchases after Christmas from giftcards, return, ect. However, the days before Christmas are reserved for last second purchases, and how many people buy a $400 video game console at the last second unless it has supply issues. Additionally, because those days are right before Christmas most people have already spent most of their gift budget.

Heres some numbers to show that your projected sales for the week after Christmas are whacked, using US numbers.

Week ending (2006) - PS2 - DS - 360 

Dec 16 --- 420k --- 416k --- 332k

Dec 23 --- 495k --- 522k --- 384k

Dec 30 --- 147k --- 151k--- 119k

So, the dates are a little different but the basic trend is the same; after the week ending in the 23rd there is a major drop off in sales. Even if you were to adjust and include the 23rd it still wouldn't make up for the descrepency between your predicition and the actual trend. And yes these are only US numbers, so its not exact, but thats not the point.

I was way, way under. I didn't think Sony would be able to get the price down to $400 this year (and didn't think they would release a PS3 without the GS or EE).  I was also under on 360 and Wii, though.

9m : no way in hell. It will be much closer to 8.3-8.5 millions. But this is not a target in itself. The crucial thing is : can Sony limit the dropoff after the big seasons so that it does not go back to 100k units a month in state. This is the real question.

Yeah , I to had underastimated Sony ... they had a terrible year , but still made some awesome sales lately :D

I underestimated the PS3 myself. But does this mean that everyone will dote on Mitsuhide now, like JL? Probably not...

That depends, did he predict the factors involved in PS3 hitting his target? If so, he should be highly praised for it!

In any case, he deserves congratulations, but IMO, high praise should be reserved for those who can explain why things will happen in a certain way - that shows an understanding of the real world, and eliminates the luck factor.