No PS3 for PAL regions till Mar 07

[tazpc]

Sony Delays PS3 Sales to Europe; Japan, U.S. on Track (Update1)

By Pavel Alpeyev and Kyoko Suzuki

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's biggest maker of video game players, delayed the release of its PlayStation 3 console in Europe until March, surrendering end-of-year sales to Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co.

Sales in Japan and U.S. are on schedule for a November release, Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony's video-game business, said at a news conference in Tokyo today. Sony originally said it would sell the PS3 globally from November, after promising a ``spring'' release this year. European sales were delayed because of parts shortages for the high-definition Blu-ray player included in the console, he said.

Sony is counting on the PS3 to help revive earnings at its games business and regain market share from Microsoft's Xbox 360, released almost a year ago. Nintendo, the world's largest handheld game player, is releasing its Wii console in the fourth quarter.

The Tokyo-based company kept its shipment target for the consoles to 6 million units by March 2007, said Kutaragi, the chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.net ; Kyoko Suzuki in Tokyo at at ksuzuki3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 6, 2006 03:22 EDT