What about bundled headset, camera and manufacturing costs?

Hardware component costs are a bad way to actually place a value on a console because it fails to take into account the R&D costs associated with developing the device.

This includes everything from designing a functioning device, to developing the OS, to distributing test and developer models, to building the network infrastructure to support the device, to paying the man-hours associated with developing the device, to potential productivity lost on other projects by devoting said man-hours on this project instead, etc.

I realize people want a simple way to put a value on a product but it's not simple at all.

It's not like R&D is suddenly going to pop up in their quartely statements when the console is being produced and sold though. Nobody here cares about that except maybe you. That was never the point of these comparisons - instead how and why they are going to make or lose money once they start supplying the market with the console.

And just in case you may still think that's an ilegitimate way of looking at things, I think previous launches more than proved where the bulk of the money is going to come into play.

I'm thinking $400 to make a small loss, or $450 with breaking even. So $500 with a small profit involved.

Question is, which will they go for? They'll let MS blink first in this department.

The controller, camera, manufacturing, employees, marketing, shipments and retailer cut also add to the cost.

I'm thinking $449 at launch. It could be anywhere from $399 to $499, really. They'll definitely make a loss on hardware for the first few year. Personally, I'd be willing to shell out $399 at launch.

Yes but it is a major consideration when placing a final price on the finished product. This isn't about the quarterly statements, this is about the end price of the console to the consumer, and that it can't be judged as fair or not by a simple component cost analysis. Do you really think any manufacturer would not take R&D costs into consideration and look to earn those costs back when it comes to sales?

You can add anything from 100 to 150 dollars for manufacturing, distribution and profit for the seller. And also he is talking about only the parts INSIDE the machine, you have to add the controller, the cables and the new camera (in case they include it with every console).

Final price can be between 470 - 550, most likely Sony will try to sell with minimal loss. I went for 450 U$

Pretty much this. When including all things together (packaging, shipping, etc) then the price of the console increases a lot. You could add $100 more to get a better idea on how much it will cost at retail.

I'm thinking it should cost $500. Any less and Sony is going to lose a fair bit of money.

In my head, while watching the stream, I came up with around $350 to $450 and it seems most people in this poll agreed. I don't see it being any cheaper than $350 but I definitely see $499+ being a potential price point.