Is anyone in the more expensive countries happy about it? No. But unfortunately, this is the cost of doing business in different countries, with their different cost structures, transport costs, government taxation and more, including the ability to simply charge a higher price if so desired, although the additional costs obviously do play a part.

Naturally, the Japanese can access the latest Japanese technologies at the cheapest price, but this is no surprise – this is almost always the case, and it is the same with Korean products in Korea. The US comes second as they are one of the largest developed markets in the world, while the rest of the world always seems to suffer with higher pricing.

But back to the PS3. It comes at a time when demand for PS3s has faced strong competition with the widespread availability of the Xbox 360 and a library of over 160 games, and the availability of the Nintendo Wii with its unique control system that has only been partially copied by Sony and their SIXAXIS controller, although the Wii is under pressure to have more games released for the system, something that Nintendo promises us is happening soon, with big names like Mario on the way.

The PS3 will arrive in the new territories only in the 60Gb version, instead of being available as a 20Gb model with no memory card sockets and no built-in Wi-Fi. In the US, a saving of $100 was to be had if you went for the 20Gb model, but according to ‘bill of materials’ costing analysis from iSuppli, who offer what they call a ‘teardown analysis’, it costs Sony a lot more to manufacture a PS3 than what they are selling it for. 

As you'll see on the next page, Sony is subsiding each unit to the tune of hundreds of dollars, while Microsoft and Nintendo make a profit on each console sold, even if no games are purchased. Please continue onto page 2 for the conclusion...