Could PS3 Complexity Spell Production Problems?
With more than 1,700 parts in the PS3, Sony may have trouble hitting its 1 million units a month target
�We've learned the Sony Playstation 3 is not just a game console. It�s a movie platform. It�s also a super-computer," McNealy said, referring to Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi's recent revelations. "This is now the most complex box that�s ever been built in this industry. It�s going to have a Cell processor, it�s going to have a Blu-ray drive. The number of pieces that are going into this box are even more astounding [than the over 1700 parts used in the Xbox 360]."
He continued, "While Sony has certain manufacturing advantages at the end of the day, this is a very complex process, and they�re going to be limited to the yields that they can come up with."
Typically, getting such a complex piece of hardware off the ground always presents difficulties. We don't have to think too far back to recall manufacturing-related shortages of the Xbox 360.
McNealy said that he expects the PS3 ramp-up to hit its stride sometime in 2007. At that point, he said, "the wild-card becomes, [whether or not] people still want to spend six-hundred bucks on the box."
Sony has maintained a PS3 shipment target of 1 million units per month, with a total of 6 million shipped by the end of March 2007. The company intends to have two million units ready for the console's worldwide November launch.
�Sony, we don�t think, is going to be in assembly for another four to six weeks--end of July, early August." McNealy went on to compare the PS3 manufacturing process to the Wii's, saying, "From a manufacturing standpoint, the Wii is a simpler box to make. Architecturally there�s fewer parts. It�s just easier to make.�
McNealy also commented on original Xbox software sales. "We expect the old Xbox software sales to, by and large, go off a cliff this holiday. There�s very little support for them in retail right now. The hardware ramp has slowed down, and there�s no cut to ninety-nine bucks at the end of the product cycle.� |
Posted by Ed on July 05.
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