Preface:  This is my own article (NightSurge).  I am writing this based on my own thoughts and on the sources provided.  I realize I may favor the 360 side of things, but I will not speak in terms of Microsoft's strategy as absolutes.  All of this is speculation and what if's, but it is still worthy of noting.

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The Purpose of the Slim

First off, lets look at why Sony in the past and present has used a "slim" remodeling to their console.  The slim/redesign is meant to make the console smaller by reducing chip sizes, power supply needs, cooling system, and therefore the outer shell.  This is done to reduce costs of production to remain price competitive.  The PS one (also PSOne), launched in 2000, was Sony's smaller, redesigned version of its PlayStation video game console. The PS one was considerably smaller than the original PlayStation (dimensions being 38 mm × 193 mm × 144 mm versus 45 mm × 260 mm × 185 mm). It was released on July 7, 2000.  The PlayStation was launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, North America on September 9, 1995, Europe on September 29, 1995.  So for the PSOne, it was released in the 5th/6th year after release.

In September 2004, Sony unveiled its third major hardware revision to the PS2 (V12, model number SCPH-70000). Available in late October 2004, it was smaller, thinner, and quieter than the older versions.  The PS2 was launched in Japan in March 2000 and Americas in October 2000.  This means that the PS2 Slim debuted 4 years after it was released (beginning the console's 5th year).

The PS3 History

Now lets take a look at the PS3 so far.  It debuted at $600 at the end of 2006 and received lackluster sales due to the high entry price.  This trend continued for the most part until the PS3 was able to drop in price to $400 in late 2007.  At the end of 2008, Microsoft followed suit with their own major price reduction and took back the momentum.  Then as of September 1st, Sony released their PS3 Slim which has seen tremendous sales and looks to repeat what the PS3 did back in 07/08 to even a slightly stronger degree.

Dieting Too Early?

This brings me to the main topic of this article.  Do you feel that Sony, by going Slim in order to lower costs at the end of its 3rd year, has done so too early?  My reasons for pondering this are as follows:

• Sony has rushed to decrease it's price to remain competitive in this market.  The Slim was the only way they could afford to get closer to competition this soon.
• In the past 2 generations, the Slim/Redesign was launched after 4 or 5(or 6 in Japan) years into it's life.  This generation, however the Slim came just shy of its 3rd birthday.
• The Slim/Redesigns in the past were the last commercial remodelings of those consoles, and in each instance the price did not significantly drop for the remainder of the generation.

Has Sony, in its desperation to remain price competitive in this rough economy forced its hand too soon, and possibly damaged the lifespan of the console in the process?  With this price cut and remodeling, I would speculate that the PS3 may not be able to reach another $100 price reduction by 2011 or later.  With Nintendo just now lowering the Wii's price for the first time, and Microsoft not having yet reached 45nm like the PS3 Slim is rumored to have done, the two competitors to Sony now seem to have all the options in the world to react.

What Happens Next?

What if Microsoft releases a redesigned Xbox 360 next year to accompany Natal?  By then they could have reduced the chips to 45nm, thus requiring less cooling and power needs, or even combined the GPU/CPU on just one chip via the fabled Valhalla revision.  This could be enough to make way for another massive price reduction (allowing them to include Natal with every new 360 purchased and not take a loss on hardware).  If Sony wants to include their motion technology with every new PS3 sold starting in March 2010, which it should to maximize the user base of this new technology, it will either have to take a further loss on hardware units sold or raise the price of bundles including the motion wands and PS Eye.

What if this huge sales surge brought on by the Slim and the price cut is to be Sony's last thanks to the points described above?  If Microsoft and Nintendo can keep their prices lower and offer new incentives while still having the options to cut prices even further, could they once again take all the momentum and wind out of Sony's sails/sales?  Without the ability to make anymore drastic price moves, Sony relies solely on their other offerings (software/services) to spur interest in their machine.

What are your thoughts?  Do you think Sony slimmed down too early?  I am not saying Microsoft or Nintendo will do things as described, and I am not saying definitively that Sony has no more moves to lower the price, just that from this point on it will be much harder for Sony to decrease the PS3 production costs than it will be for Microsoft or Nintendo.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2#Slimline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation#PS_one
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2568701.html
-VGChartz Sales data

If any of you have information or thoughts to add or corrections to make, please share them.

I think they did but hey, good luck to them.

If Sony didnt diet early the fat bastard mightve ended up with a stroke and just die completely.

So you feel this choice was their only option up to this point in order to remain price competitive?  Good that is also what I had felt.

Do you think they have anything up their sleeves for the future if the situation returns to how it was?

You feel the PS3 lifespan having been possibly shortened is better than it dying all-together and way too early?  I also share this view, but I don't think it would have died.  It just would have relaxed in sales to the previous generations' third place totals/rate.

Best time for a Slim version

I don't think looking at time spans of the previous PS slim releases is the best way to analyse the position of the PS3 slim as this time it came about out of neccessity rather than elongation of product life-span. I wouldn't put it past Sony to have plans already in place to elongate the lifespan of PS3 as a product. They keep touting this 10yr plan so it wouldn't suprise me if they have at least some secret plans ready for execution.

Also, whilst Natal may be getting all the attention, Sony's dildo... ahem... "Wand" will also be releasing, and probably for cheaper than Natal (Natal looks to incoporate more complicated tech than the Wand). I also don't see MS releasing a revised slim version of 360. Partly because their strength isn't in hardware, but software and also because they'd need to design the it around some of the periphals (mainly the HDD).

Because it was released in September means people won't buy it later on during the upcoming months?
Right..

Same thing i said, Sony launched the PS3 slim on MS terms rather than there own.

I've got to go with V-r0cK on this one.

"Too early" means that it would have been BETTER to do it later; the PS3 really needed this boost and waiting would only have made the situation worse. If a consequence of that is that there won't be ANOTHER such boost, well, Sony still made the best move.

Sony needed to make the price cut, and IMO Sony needed the Slim to be able to make the price cut. So ... that's what hapened.

it was the best choice to regain unit sales, its cheaper for them to manufacture, and the ps3 will continue to get cheaper in manufacture side of things.