Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today that the first week sales of the PSP (PlayStation Portable) handheld entertainment system generated more than $150 million at North American retailers, outpacing the launch week sales for any other product in the space. Additionally, demand drove the sell through of over 500,000 PSP Value Packs in the first two days alone — an unprecedented number further validating PSP as the most anticipated product of 2005 and an industry altering force — and remained strong throughout the first week. Making the $150 million mark all the more spectacular, PSP sales were achieved during a traditionally slower non-holiday season launch, and during a period when many retailers were closed for Easter.
“The launch of PSP was everything we hoped for, with extraordinary consumer demand driving sales of hardware units alone upwards of $150 million in first week sales, far and away above those generated by any other product in the space,” said Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America in the press release. “In only two weeks, PSP is having an immediate impact across the entire industry as consumers are clearly voting it the product of the year in 2005.”
“GameStop, Inc. has seen an extraordinary cross section of consumers come through our doors including hard core gamers, business men and women of all ages looking to get a PSP,” said Dan DeMatteo, vice-chairman and chief operational officer, GameStop Inc. in the press release. “The overall entertainment value of PSP is giving it a mass appeal beyond any other product we have ever carried.”
Setting a new standard as the first-ever integrated portable entertainment system designed to provide consumers with a comprehensive entertainment experience including games, music, movies, communication, and wireless networking, PSP launched in North America on March 24. Already a sensation in Japan with upwards of 1 million units sold to date, the North American launch of PSP saw lines snaking for blocks at retailers across the nation with many locations extending business hours for midnight sales or early openings to accommodate anxious consumers.
PSP (PlayStation Portable) is a new portable entertainment system that allows users to enjoy 3D games, high-quality full-motion video, and high-fidelity stereo audio. With graphics rendering capability comparable to that of PlayStation 2, PSP features a 4.3 inch wide screen, high-resolution TFT display. PSP also adopts a newly developed compact but high-capacity (1.8GB) optical disc, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its storage medium. With a wide range of accessories and connectivity options, including Memory Stick Duo, USB 2.0, IR port and Wi-Fi wireless LAN, PSP is the new entertainment platform from PlayStation.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Washington Post: Sony’s new PSP a ‘multimedia dud’ – no competition for Apple’s iPod – March 19, 2005
Does Sony’s new PlayStation Portable (PSP) threaten Apple’s iPod? – March 14, 2005
I know Sony is going to say they are going to destroy the iPod because of the booming sales. But its mainly the great graphics for games that have people buying, not the need to use it as a video or music player. I would buy one, but I’m not into consol games or hand held players that much. I’m into sitting down with keyboard and mouse.
Wow, thats much more than I expected given all the “stories” indicating slow sales.
PS2s did they sell in that time frame? It had to have been similar, if memory serves me right.
Sweet, they seem pretty cool… I wouldn’t mind having one. I wonder how this will change Sony’s future music strategy. Clearly this doesn’t compete with the iPod… will they focus on games and relax with the NW-WM-XYZ2000’s?
So,. . . Why’s this on MacDailyNews?
The people buying it are parents for there 5 to 13 year old kids.
Playstation and ipod are totally different in the eyes of kids.
One playes games and the other plays music. I should know,
I’m being bombarded with requests for a PSP everyday. Not to
mention the kids at my sons karate school who drool to have one.
great article…
I have both – a PSP and a 60 gig iPod photo.
They serve 2 different masters, and they both do it well.
The iPod does what it does, hands down, with the best MUSIC player on the market.
The PSP is fantastic for games – as well as photos AND videos/DVD’s. I kid you not, the screen is just gorgeous. Spiderman 2 (the movie) looks amazing.
However, if I had to choose between the 2 I would take my iPod without a moments hesitation. It would cost me $12,000 US dollars to have the same storage capacity on the PSP as I do on my iPod.
At that cost, I don’t think you can call the PS an iPod killer, lol.
Why Sony can have half million, and most likely much more units available on day one, and our dear Apple has to ramp up production over months, treating its potential buyers to a backorder nonsense? Aren’t they both outsorcing their manufacturing to the same factory in Taiwan?
I don’t think every area is doing that well. My local Target has at least 8 PSP’s in a the case that haven’t sold…
HEY YOU GUYS NEED TO GET BUSY!
Visit this Forbes link and vote for our favorite platform!!
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/02/11/cx_jp_0211polldujour.html
Even though these two products have different uses, they do compete with each other in the sense that they are both competing for a consumer’s limited amount of disposable income. Gamer points out that a lot of the sales are probably from parents for their kids. But I don’t think a lot of parents are going to want to spend $500 on each kid just so that they can have a PSP and an iPod. Chris says that if he had to choose, he would pick the iPod, as would I and probably many of the people on this forum. However, I’m sure there are a lot of people that for various reasons would rather have the PSP.
Many of the iPods sold are for people either upgrading or adding an additional iPod to their collection. People that are thinking about upgrading or adding an iPod are also ones that may be tempted to forgo the new iPod in favor of the PSP.
So iPod sales are most definitely going to be affected by the PSP. The extent remains to be seen depending on how long the PSP stays popular. If it’s still a must-have gadget by Christmas time, it may slow the growth in iPod sales – not an iPod killer, but a factor in the iPod economy.
How does this have anything to do with Mac News?
JanKo Said:
Why Sony can have half million, and most likely much more units available on day one, and our dear Apple has to ramp up production over months, treating its potential buyers to a backorder nonsense? Aren’t they both outsorcing their manufacturing to the same factory in Taiwan?
My suspcision is for two reasons:
1. Apple’s appeal is due in part to it’s mystique, so it doesn’t like having products out too early to prevent the leaks that inevitably happen (remember the iMac fumble in Time magazine, etc), thus stealing the thunder from it’s initial presentation.
2. Look at how much press Apple receives during the time between the announcement and the actual delivery of products. This enhanced the appeal and demand for it’s products. How much conversation is there about PSP now that everyone who wants one can have one? It seems to me there is much less to talk about now, hence the mindshare of the product has quickly faded.
Just my 2¢ worth,
SirROM
That 500,000 number obviously includes a lot of online preorders and/or bulk consignments to retailers that haven’t actually sold yet. Otherwise, there’s no way to process that many transactions in time. Two days works out to 172,800 seconds, which means that 500,000 sales would require one transaction every 0.35 second, with orders processed around the clock.
The reason I harp on this is to suggest that the 500K number mostly represents pent-up demand reflected in preorders that has now been satisfied, and/or bulk consignment sales bought in anticipation of eventual sales to consumers. Sony won’t sustain sales at even one-tenth that volume from now on.
People want handheld games, not music.
Goodbye, Apple, it was fun for a couple years
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(No, I’m not really that stupid… but you’ll find some who are!)
Well,what I heard is that 450,000 was sold in the first WEEK,so I’m sticking to what I heard,because sony can lie.
Next on MDN: Ford Sells 100,000 Cars.
Coca-Cola Sells 1,000,000 bottles of Coke.
McDonalds – Billions and Billions
Wow! Thanks for the tip MDN, these things are hot! I am going to go buy one!
Winston, winston, winston….: “… which means that 500,000 sales would require one transaction every 0.35 second, with orders processed around the clock.”
You actually think they only sell these one at a time at only one place???
Tip: Lots of stores in lots of cities with the PSP purcahsed by lots of people.
5,000 stores x 2 days = 50 customers per day per store. That is very reasonable.
Winston – Did you know if each American bought one can of Coke in one day, then over 285,000,000 cans of coke would be bought. How cans per millisecond is that???
Well.. erm.. Nintendo sold that many DSs in Europe in the first couple days too..
Nintendo’s coming up on 6 Million DS’s… doo doo doo
Has there been 500,000 iPod sales over 2 days, there’d be so much spunk on computer screens from this lot…
Oops… for some reason I was thinking of online sales only and didn’t factor in multiple outlets selling simultaneously. Duh.
Well, I stand by my claim that a lot of that 500K is from pent-up demand, and is not a sustainable volume.
Big deal. When Sony has sold over 10 Million PSPs total (like Apple has iPods), then give me a call…
REality Check: What´s your phone number?
I will be calling soon.