I think that  if sony keeps their current "pretty much 1 sku"-model then dropping the price would benefit them most, EVEN with a lowered xbox price.  The slim model could hurt them again, but they have a slim model coming too sometime, so that's not someting they will worry about now.

If they are truly gunning for profit at this time, I don't think they'll drop price unless they can keep profitability.  (which probably means they'll only drop the price if the loss they'd get then is DEFINITELY offset by software sales.)

Beware of the short term solution! Look at how AMD fared against Intel in a price war. I don't think Sony shud go into a price war with M$. M$ has enormous cash reserves that they are just gonna destroy Sony with. Its a 200 Billion dollar company, about 7 times the size of Sony. I think for Sony the smart thing to do is to survive by selling a critical mass of consoles and concentrate on developing a kick ass first part suite of titles (Which is already done) They can then take the war to the next generation by building a more competitively priced PS4.
On another note, Nintendo's success is awesome for Sony coz it stops the giant M$ from swallowing everything.

Yea,Sony dosent have BILLIONs of dollars,there just as broke as Atari.

lol

Yes. Please, Sony, please. Before January. Give a $100 price cut.

PLEASE!!!!!!!! :(

@ garnett: I have seen a LOT of "profits down"-threads, but never "sony (on the whole) makes loss", so where is this notion coming from that Sony is broke?

Not sure about the sony is broke theory, but alot of the profit's down info is in relation to the volatile nature of the Yen.

I was being sarcastic :)

"ocnkng said:
Beware of the short term solution! Look at how AMD fared against Intel in a price war. I don't think Sony shud go into a price war with M$. M$ has enormous cash reserves that they are just gonna destroy Sony with. Its a 200 Billion dollar company, about 7 times the size of Sony. I think for Sony the smart thing to do is to survive by selling a critical mass of consoles and concentrate on developing a kick ass first part suite of titles (Which is already done) They can then take the war to the next generation by building a more competitively priced PS4.
On another note, Nintendo's success is awesome for Sony coz it stops the giant M$ from swallowing everything."

He acts like the only thing Sony makes is the PS3,They have NOTHING ELSE,Not PS2,Not TV,Speakers,Comps NOTHING!

So i said Sony is broke as Atari :)

Ah, my apologies then. Just found it a bit "hmmm" :p

I don't kbow what the best move for Sony is right now. I think it will be what happens in January and Febuary that really tells the future.The rest of this year the price will not change. This years big hopeful for Sony is that the 160GB system will sell well. If that happens they will make quite a bit of money, as the system is maybe $20 more to produce, and they are selling at $100 more.

It is still very likly that the PS3 could start outselling the 360 before the year is over. As we move closer to December, and the Blu-ray push really hits the momentum could take a swing. If that carries to the new year and each system is within 10k in weekly sales Sony should be able to stick it out for a while. Their first choice is to ride it out at $399 as long as possible. In this scenario I think we may not se a price cut until the Slim PS3 comes out in late September, and a new price point of $299.

If PS3 fails to swing back any momentum this year, and sales gaps at the beggening of the year are close to 25k then Sony is going to have to make a price cut. In this scenario Sony will have to make their move early, and I would figure no later than April. The best move they could make then is to drop the price to $349, and then drop again with the slim to $299 in late September.

Personally I hate the idea of droping the price twice in one year, but your everyday Joe will flock to the price cut without a second thought. The only people that really notice these cuts are current owners, and gamers. The rest of society has no clue the price dropped twice. So in this case they will have their best possible sales boost, and profits will take less of a hit.