Interesting if true, according to this article the PS3 install base in Australia could well be more than 28,000 higher than reported. Not sure if anyone has posted this so apologies if that is the case.

 "It looks like Sony's limited holiday offer of a free 40GB PlayStation 3 with every purchase of a new Bravia LCD television in Australia worked wonders for both the TV and gaming sides of the Japanese giant. Sony Computer Entertainment Australia head Michael Ephraim said more than 28,000 PS3s were given away as part of the promotion, which ran from December 21, 2007, to January 28, 2008.

"On the Bravia PS3 offer, we're now up to 28,000-plus--these are audited numbers from Sony. They have taken about a 30 percent market in flat screens for the month of January off the back of that promotion," Ephraim said.

Sony recently released figures showing 155,000 PS3s were sold in Australia last year, but Ephraim says the 28,000 given away as part of the Bravia deal were not included as part of this figure because industry data tracker GfK Australia "doesn't report on a console if it's given away free". This would make the PS3's Australian base more than 180,000 units. By comparison, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has a reported Aussie install base of 306,000 units, while the Nintendo Wii has 300,000 units."

Interesting, have MS or Nintendo ever given consoles away. PS3 doing better than thought down under.

They have to give PS3's away now. lol

Lol.. that is actually an interesting question.. do they count towards console sales if they are given away?

I always wondered about those, I've seen a couple similar deals here in Canada also either offering a 360 or a PS3.

Dell had (or still is) offering a free 360 with purchase of PC
Bell/Telus was offering a free 360 with 1 year contract
My boss purchased a 42 inch tv and got a free Elite (he gave Pro to his nephew for xmas)

Why do I only remember the 360 deals?? I really don't know??

While the sites might not track them, I'd assume the companies would include them in their "Sold to Retail" figures, since they are after the biggest numbers possible. Not saying the numbers shouldn't be adjusted, but when it comes to figuring it all out, this needs to be considered (Yes I am aware any Q3 figures don't include all of these, if any).

On a side note, I think this shows how overpriced consoles are in Australia (AU$700 for the 40gig PS3 here, which is 1/4 of the cost of the TV).

ooo
i underestimated ps3 install base in Austrlalia..

imagine if those tv's were cheaper...
install base would be over 200.000 by now.

Either that or mark them off as promotional losses.  It's hard to say because it's not like a "point of purchase" transaction that would count.

The reason Chartrack doesn't track it isn't because it's free like Ephraim says.  It's the way Sony did it that chartrack doesn't count it.

It was an online redemption program.

If it was a on purchase free PS3 it would of been counted by charttrack. (Aka you buy the PS3 and TV together, get the PS3 free.)

The only reason it wasn't counted is because it was sent through the mail.

Since this never was sold to retail you wonder.  My guess is they'd count each PS3 sold as a "Sale" for full price to  the Entertainment branch from the game branch.

So it probably was part of their financial report boosting up their PS3 sales by 28,000 

This is the 3rd time I see you troll.  I suggest you stop,Its not funny anymore.

hm that is interesting,i wonder why sony did a deal to give away ps3's