PS3 Pricing Strategy

[Simplayer]

It seems that Sony has decided to take a different pricing strategy than Microsoft and what it has done in the past with the PS1 and PS2; make money off of the hardware sold.

Even with Microsoft poised on getting the Arcade down to 200 dollars and the elite down to 400, Sony seems to be steadfast in keeping their price points relatively high so that they can make profit on each PS3 sold.

I'm wondering if Sony now is trying to reach a different audience than what they initially hoped on reaching. Microsoft seems to be still reaching out towards the traditional young male audience by following the same pricing strategy that the previous PS have used (selling below cost because that market can't afford that much) and is stagnating, while it seems to me that the PS3 is now aiming towards the young families. With PS3's current price point, it can be sold as a blu-ray player for this holiday (and future holiday) season, with the added benefit of gameplay for the kids (with LittleBigPlanet leading the charge there) as well as a heavy mixture of mature/teen titles for the parents.

With that audience, software sales aren't going to be as strong as you would see on the 360, so profit off the system will be necessary.

If Sony is able to convince retail partners to bundle the PS3 with HDTV sales this holiday, they may be able to sell a great deal of units with the growing demand for Blu-ray. This should help them bolster their install base, allowing them to more naturally reduce the price and reach more of the young male audience and possibly the Wii audience in time.

What do you guys think?