Did Sony themselves say that it was a price cut? or did they say that they are "introducing" a new model at XXX price?

Big difference. 

New model, less features, lower price... looks like a price cut but isn't. 

Tricks of the trade at retail really.

To illustrate, here's an example on detergent...kinda a long way from game consoles, but the basic principle is the same.

1. Original detergent X available for $5 in a 1kg bag.

2. detergent X gets a new formulation and is advertised as "you now need less! and is now priced at $4.49"... WOW price cut!

3. until you look at the packaging and realize that the new formulation comes in a bag of 800g...WOW! 

price cut my ass... its cheaper coz you get lesser. but that isn't a price cut. its actually a new sku at a new packaging and new price point.. 

why do you think they price stuff at 9.99 or 499 or 349 or even 1199? coz it gives an impresion that its cheaper...people go, hey, its less that 10 dollars, or its below 350! thats damn good price!  even though its just a doller away from being 350.00...

again, tricks of the trade.

Exactly.  And PS fans weren't playing games trying to claim it wasn't a price cut.  We knew what it was.  Never in the history of gaming has a console's fans tried to argue so hard that their system has not gotten a price cut.  I guess we have a new breed that came about last gen.

At least there's someone else around here who gets it.

I also don't know why this bugs me too. Must be due to me having over half a decade experience in retail and the another over half a decade in procurement, where i'm currently in. Its not a fun job mind you...

the correct slogan would be "you can now game on the xbox one for $150.00 cheaper than on launch" i think.

notice I  said game and didnt use the phrase "xbox one experience" since at launch, MS was aiming for this with the sku with kinect. now that its unbudnled, its not the "same" thing. you can game on a base model, but you dont get the "xbox on" voice command thingy lol wich is part of "the experience"... so they said back at launch. 

funny that it was a selling point back then and now...its all but forgotten trolololll! serves them right for their stupid DRM crap that they  tried to pull.

Nope. Those are mental gymnastics.  If you could only buy a product for $499, then it's changed to $399, that's a price cut.  You can play games and talk about unbundling, or replacing SKUs, but the fact remains, the stinking price was cut.  Unless we want to claim the new PS4 cut isn't a cut since Sony is "unbundling" it from unnecessary internal HW and more expensive components, which allowed them to CUT the price.  Sorry, I don't like to play those type of games.

still no.

and for the record, replacing "SKU" is actually a valid argument.

New sku, new configuration, lower price = new price point and not a price cut.

but if it were the same sku, same configuration, lower price = then that is a price cut.

and for the record, these kind of things are almost always called a price cut, even if it isnt. tricks of the trade... gotta love retail and pricing... 

does that new $399.00 sku offer the same value? does it have kinect? no? then no. not a price cut.

if it also had kinect then yes, price cut. but it didn't, then no. not a price cut.

prove that the $399.00 model/sku or now $349.00 model/sku provides the exact same experience that the $499.00/$449.00 model/sku offers right out of the box... you can't because the cheaper one has no kinect, while the more expensive one has kinect thus providing different values and a slightly different experience..because no kinect means no "xbox on" lololll!

The xbox one with kinect was the only option til they were forced to "unbundle" it to slash the price down to match the PS4's price. It's a pricecut because the kinect originally was meant to be a part of the xbox one and the feature was removed to drop the price. The PS3 had features removed to drop it's price. That was a price cut too.

I wish Sales 2099 (or whatever the number behind his name was) were here!  He used to really piss people off saying Xbox 360 hadn't gotten a price drop in years.  In fact, they would sometimes raise the price!  Meanwhile PS3 was in sales free fall.

It wasn't exactly true but people would argue tooth and nail trying to prove him wrong.  It was fun to watch.  Now, I guess it's happening with Xbox One.  Anyway, a price cut or whatever you want to call it isn't necessarily bad.  If M$ isn't losing money on the deal, what's wrong with making it cheaper for people to buy one?  I mean even at launch last gen there were cheaper consoles (Xbox 360 Arcade and 20gb ps3).  Tons of different versions and bundles exist.  Options are good. Forcing Kinect on gamers--I can see what Microsoft was hoping for but it should have always been optional.

Not true.  Less USB ports and the card readers were eventually removed entirely.  I'll post a link to wikipedia that shows the difference skus and exactly what was cut from each version to lower the price: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_PlayStation_3_SKUs

I had an 80gb PS3 that broke.  I replaced it with a 500gb super slim.  The amount of features cut makes the latter feel like a cheap knockoff.  It only cost $200 with two games back in 2013 so I guess I can't complain too much....

regardless of original intentions, the fact remains, the xbox one currently priced at $349.00 is not the same as the "launch" sku and doesn't have kinect.

The xbox one with kinect is still very much alive and available for purchase at $449.00. A $150.00 price cut would mean that the original xbox bundle price of $499.00 would now be $349.00  WITH Kinect. But that's not the case is it?

Again, to be really considered as a price cut, it should offer the same value as the original. no kinect, not a $100 price cut. palin and simple.

I'm guessing you're reffering to the original model that came in 60Gb and 20Gb with the PS2 inards to allow for some B/C. then tints.hey gutted it and came out with the 80Gb and 40Gb with no PS2 guts and no B/C and with lesser USB slots..

No, those are not price cuts. What they are are new models/new skus and new entry points. But would it sell the way it sold if it were advertised as such? Of course not, hence calling it a "price-cut" for marketing purposes.