With the advent of the 250GB slim bundle, we have to wonder as to what the price is going to be.

Obviously that answer is 400$. However, we know that Sony was nearly breaking even on one 400$ fat when bought with an extra controller and game, and also factoring in HOME since the cost was 440-16$(game)-20(controller)-~6$(DLC+Home estimates).On top of that aussie boxes and UK sets were over cost, and are used to subsidize the console as a whole.

As of a few months ago, Sony reported that manufacturing costs were down 70% with a 240$ cost for the ps3 without shipping, retailer costs, and exchange rate...

Now the ps3 slim was recently said to have a materials cost of 400, with manufacturing costs being doubled.

However, now that there is going to be a 400$ machine with a minimal additional cost incurred, that might change.

Because of the holiday season coming up, sony has no doubt ramped up production exponentially and thereby is going to be reducing those costs very quickly. By the end of this holiday season the ps3 slim could be at 320-340, with a 400$ console still on the market to break the costs even.

EDIT:
dbot's post was very intuitive and clear, so here it is:

The $400 sku is important to Sony because it allows them to keep the average console sale above $300. Depending upon the pack in, the $400 sku will move the average PS3 cost to at least $330. As of the most recent NPD. the Xbox average console sale was at $260. That is just in NA which is the strongest territory for MS. That number will drop significantly without the $400 Elite. That's at least a $70 spread in pricing in Sony's favor.

-A 330$ average revenue per ps3, Sony can actually break in by early 2010.

I thoguth the slim cost like 250 to manufacture then with added costs just rose slightly above 300?

The ps3 slim never costs 400 to make. Has sony said this? I think the people who are predicting that are stupid i mean The phat PS3 cost like 450 with everything included.

There are not many difference between the slim and the fat.
It's just shipping costs and case costs, and some smaller pieces.

When a new model is released costs go up dramatically. They are definitely losing money on it right now, but if they actually do manage to sell however many millions it is before March (equaling 13M for the year), it probably will hit 300.

You also have to realize that the exchange rates on these Japanese products are very hard hitting. Since the US recession, Japan has been losing 30% on everything sold here. That means, even if something costs 300, it's actually costing 390$.

Is this is true, this is great news for Sony and can only get better. Why aren't the PS3 fans in here saying this is good news? Let's get the positivity going Sony fans! It doesn't always have to be about negativism for other consoles!

I know what your saying but the smaller components are cheaper to make. They use less materials to make the PS3's now. Yes the initial costs to bui;d the plant for the PS3 slim would have been expensive but the actual production of the PS3 slim's not so much

Sony fans are not here because their were threads like this in 2007 and 2008 on whole the net.

And everytime Sony posted losses...

True, but that is all factored into the cost. Also, they definitely didn't buy a new plant, it's probably a contract based on quantity. As quantities continue to go up prices will drop. You have to realize that all the parts are different as well. The BD drive is different, the HDD is different, the boxing is different. The prices of these things are going to be pretty high now, but, if they do end up making 10M consoles in the next 5 months, those costs will drop considerably.

Remember, a few months ago manufacturing was only costing about 240$ + other things which ended up as 448. The analyst said that manufacturing has doubled since the slim. Taking a 400$ price point, the doubling would refer to a 200$ manufacturing price. Sony cut about 50$ moving to the slim for now. THat's a big deal. In a few months, it could be another 50 or more.

But at the same time advertising budget rose with 1000%.

I want to see their financial numbers before I believe they made money.

This is not what "breaking even" means. This means their margin is 0 as opposed to negative.

Breaking even needs to consider the invest in the product. A break even point is when total accrued revenue is bigger than total accrued cost (including R&D!!!).

You know how the cost works? i sure dont think so... Sony have moved onto 45nm chips which easily reduce the cost by 50%.. plus they reduced the mother board size also which will also dramatically reduce the cost.. 

Sony sold its fabrication plans of the chips n other hardware to Toshiba.. so Sony dont need to buy new equipments to upgrade these fabrication plants. so ur analysis is pretty flawed honestly...

the chip manufactoring model work a lot differently than conventional manufactoring.

Last all these productions are probably done not in Japan. Probably ASUS n other r assembling PS3 either in Taiwan or China.. so if u have any concrete evidance that they were paying them in Yen than this sounds ok, else last part is pretty flawed also.