If the person is going to by a $3000-4000 (australian) TV from you rather then your rival, you might as well add a PS3 to sweeten the deal, they get a Blu-ray plus gaming system right there. Good deal if you ask me.

There are a couple of weird deals in the UK like that, for example AOL are currently running one where if you sign upto them (no doubt on a certain contract for a certain time), you get a PS3 for free as a gift. I don't know how many people AOL have snagged with this but I'm wondering if they were counted.

  I think it's actually to promote Blu-ray, but since the PS3 count in Aussie was low they decided to give away PS3's with the TV's instead of a stand alone player like in the States.

Its not because of blu ray its because they they arnt selling enough consoles(I know people will think Im trolling but the ps3 is just above 1/2 of the sales of wii and 360 so it makes sense to get more consoles out there).

What might come back to bite them is that some people who got the free ps3 are selling them to make some of the money back. Therefore less people are buying new ps3's because they are buying second hand ones.

28,000 may not seem like a lot but for a market the size of Australia it could give some serious momentum for the ps3 and at the very least that's a lot of bluray players so a win win situation for Sony. Good PR and increase of install base.
I wonder what the bluray vs hddvd install base is in Australia I would appreciate it if someone had some figures.

When they have so many units sitting in their warehouse, guess it makes sense to give some away - helps sell their other products, and increases their install base (even though its a significant loss on each unit).

Well, they shouldn't be counted as sales if you want to judge consumer driven choice, but they do mean there are now some 28,000 owners who game buy games, go online, buy BR movies, etc. which was obviously the idea. So they will impact, very likely positively, the local market.

Seems smart move to me as (even allowing for cost) one of the barriers for PS3 in territories where 360 has a strong foothold is overcoming the online community this builds - i.e. if people you know are onling with 360 and you want to play with them you're not going to buy a PS3. You can see this the most in US I believe.

Pushing PS3s in this way (even allowing for the fact some will be sold on) is a smart way of covering the cost with other sales (the TVs and future BR / Games revenue) while giving your install base and its attendant online community a rapid boost. If the results are really good it will aid follow on sales as well.

The cost would likely be too much but if I was Sony I'd consider something similar in US - say 65% off PS3 or something like that if not totally free. I suspect that the boost in online players coupled with follow on software/BR sales would be more than worth it. In fact if I was Sony I'd do this and throw in a game and a decent Warners movie to ensure the purchaser tries a BR movie and enjoys the game enough to want more. In US they could pre-install Warhawk for example - a really fun online game with a near enough free console and a nice HD TV sounds good, right?

180k in 8 month, cool! =)

A Bravia teamed with a PS3? A very good idea if you ask me, and a good deal at that! I'd certainly go for it, since I'm getting both anyways.
Perhaps they'll offer such deals across Europe and in NA as well in time? One can only hope, especially since all electronics are expensive as hell here in Norway...

Yeah i am buying a Bravia for my room soon.. i want a 42" one... if i get a ps3 im gonna sell it, probably for 500 bucks or so.