So, how much money is Sony making on each Playstation 3 being sold? I thought I heard that they were also taking a bath on each unit.
Yes, the same research company that estimated Toshiba was losing over $200 on each A1 estimates Sony is losing up to $300 on each PS3. That's the same Sony that first said the laptop battery recall would not affect profits, and then blamed the battery recall for Q3 profits dropping 95%.
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But, in all fairness, Sony also makes software for the PS3 and the master plan is to make up for the loss it incurs on selling the hardware from the profits on the software. Toshiba only makes hardware.
Now that my "fair & unbiased" requirement is fullfilled:
We will now see if Toshiba can keep losing money on players (and/or withstand the returns of their players for the 360's HD-DVD drive) and keep pushing the HD-DVD format. They sold a bunch of players at a loss and now they are even getting those players back as consumers with 360's opt out for the even less expensive HD-DVD add-on.
I always try to not be personal in any forum comment, BUT, My Gawd, JoeSP - you really bring a whole new meaning to the saying "beating a dead horse" . . . .
You read one comment of someone exchanging a Toshiba HD DVD player for an XBox 360 add-on, and have been harping on that in almost every post, like it's a national movement. First of all, Toshiba doesn't sell directly to consumers and accordingly has no exchange policy. They ain't a takin' a single player back. Most
retailers, from whom consumers purchase Toshiba products, do have a return policy, usually 30 days. Some consumers might take advantage of that and return a player within 30 days, in which case the retailer will re-sell the returned unit. But, again, Toshiba is not taking back a single player. Most likely, that original poster meant he sold his player on eBay and bought an xBox add-on player. When I bought my XA1, I sold my Denon DVD player on eBay becuase the XA1 did a better job of standard DVD upconverting in addition to being a terriffic high def player. But, I don't go around posting that "Denon is taking its DVD players back because the Toshiba HD DVD player is a better DVD player".
Secondly, Toshiba makes the xBox 360 add-on HD DVD player for Microsoft, so they make a profit on every single xBox add-on player, just as they do on every Zune player, which they also manufactor for Microsoft.
IMHO, Toshiba did not "shoot themselves in the foot" with the $499 pricing for the 1st generation HD DVD player (A1). They jump started HD DVD well past Blu-Ray when they released it last April, when this time last year almost every "expert" was pronouncing HD DVD "Dead on Arrival" before it even launched. The 2nd gen player (A2) is much less expensive to manufactor* but still priced at $499, to make them a profit - and still sell for less than half the cost of a comparable Blu-Ray player. :up
*"the 2nd gen player is much less expensive to manufactor" - They eliminated almost all the audio processing capabilities of the A1; It's based on SoC (Software on Chip), instead of PC RAM and Linux Operating System on the A1; Toshiba makes the HD DVD drive for the A2, whereas NEC made the drive for the A1.
Rant over.
But you are correct in that the newer Blu-Ray movie releases are (finally) approaching HD DVD in quality, from the reviews I read.
