The “Break it Down” Blog

Well no surprise here, just business as usual for Sony: “Home of the Bullshit Empire”. Looks like the PS3 is not getting 4 million units at launch, but more like 500k for North American and Japan, to boot, it’s likely going to be pushed back. Also the European launch is getting pushed back to March of 2007. Of course the problem is production of the blue diodes used in the BluRay players.

I personally think that’s a load of crap and think the production problems are across the board with the Cell processor, custom operating system and BluRay technology not to mention the BluRay disc production. They marketing goal here is to blame some innocuous technology like the “blue diode” so as a consumer you think “Ok good, the product is still technically sound, it’s just a supply issue” as opposed to “The yields on the cell processors, custom memory, motherboards and operating system are so low and buggy that only 500k units will be launched”. Then as a consumer you stay away from the system like the plague and let everyone else work out the bugs so the revised unit that will come out for Christmas 2007 will be better and less buggy.

Let’s look at Sony’s track record so far:

• They had the perfect HDTV, the SXRD series, and screwed it up so much that not only did it win awards from reviewers but scored Sony a class-action lawsuit from the owners there were so many longer-term problems that Sony wouldn’t acknowledge or fix (even with the newer sets that were released this year)
• They had the killer next-gen console that has repeatedly been downgraded in it’s specs and had production problems across the board that won’t stop.
• In true Sony fashion, after deciding to release over a year after the XBox 360, they still try and play the strategy card with features thinking at this point they have the leverage to (with both the PS3 and SXRD sets)
• Batteries, don’t forget batteries. All the Dell and Apple Lithium Ion batteries that have been recalled due to explosions (4+ million and counting) were all manufacturer by Sony.

I think we are seeing the trend here. You combine lax QA processes, with a company that still uses proprietary lock-in strategies with their customers, and you end up getting the short end of the stick as a consumer.

I don’t know who runs that company, but I think they feel they are in a completely different position in the industry than they really are. I look forward to Sony falling flat on it’s face, realizing that it’s not the king of earth anymore, picking itself back up by it’s bootstraps, and actually start caring about the consumer again. Basically the same thing that happend to Microsoft over the last few years with Vista and embracing it’s users instead of trying to nickle and dime them with lockin which used to work in the 90s. (Digg this)

Update #1: Looks like 400k machines for the North American launch and 100k for Japanese launch.