Certainly ,its selling very very strongly ...provided it has only 40Gb more of HDD and its the same console.But it seems to have some kind of oomph the 40GB doesnt.

Guess its a better deal, untill LBP bundle arrives.

Considering how there won't be a price cut this year it will be very interesting to compare sales from last year to this year at the same price of 399$/499$.
The growth PS3 is experiencing has been definetly influenced by the lower price but the biggest reason is perceived value.
There are now lots of great games, key exclusives like MGS4 and the upcoming Little Big Planet, Resistance2.
Blu Ray is now a valuable investement in consumers' eyes because there is no more fear that the format could fail like Betamax did. The Blu Ray movies lineup will be crazy this year starting from September with the Godfather trilogy and Kill Bill1&2.
And last but not least all the services have been improved, compared to last year the store has now a cool interface, there is a video store, in-game XMB is a reality, there is an achievement/trophies system and even more services are coming with the Home launch this November and Life With Playstation.
So all in all it's easy to see why even at the same price sales will be completely different because the perception around the product is completely different.

The opposite thing could be said for Microsoft this year. Right now they're cutting the price hysterically, they are done with the hardcore consumers because these people have already bought the console, they need to attract the mainstream audience to continue to sell at decent levels but the only thing they have right is price. But price alone isn't enough if certain users just aren't interested in the product and you're not doing anything to really attract them other than price. Wii is selling like no one before at 250$ with an obsolete hardware, Microsoft with its 199$ Arcade featuring a much better hardware won't do anything special just like their 199€ Arcade did nothing in Europe since March.
And we had a first signal of the difficult situation Microsoft is now facing in the US too last month when even with the 20Gb Pro at 299$, sales stayed low.

kowenicki said: Squall_Leonhart said: I have also noticed that here in the UK the 80GB is selling out, even though the only difference is the extra 40GB of hard-drive space. Then again the games are coming for the system now so there has not been a better time to take the plunge and buy one. Also it is only £299 Sold out in the UK?  Well it isnt sold out at Game, PCWorld, Dixons, DABS, Tesco, Currys, Comet...etc etc.   They dont stock game consoles at Laura Ashley... you do know that right?

Youve been to all of those stores? And whats DABS???

Stores have been out of stock of 40GBs a little bit, so this is just a rebound effect

Its indeed in demand. Went to the www.circuitcity.com, www.bestbuy.com and www.walmart.com and did a in store search, and could find less stocks for my zipcode then the Xbox, that could mean supply issue or could also mean its selling better.
Also the 80 GB is in no 6 in Amazon, 2 spots behind the Wii
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/videogames/ref=sv_vg_4

Demand is high for PS3. Can't wait for holiday numbers :)

Isn't it obvious? The fall software line-up should be enough of an explanation.

not sure, the game stores ive been in have been focusing on the new 360 model, whatever that is