“Sony is launching their portable video game player this week and the Million units initially slated for the US market have reportedly already sold out. This is a very similar event to the original offering of the Apple iPod suggesting that Sony may be about to yank the crown for the hottest consumer product away from Apple and make it their own,” Rob Enderle writes for Techonlogy Pundits. “Apple currently has the hot product with over 10M iPods sold in the last two years; however the potential for a Game system like the PSP is several times that in 2005 suggesting it could eclipse the iPod as the hot product this year if Sony can execute.
MacDailyNews Note: Estimates (from the likes of Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs) for iPod units sold by Apple average about 5.75 million for this current quarter alone. Last quarter, Apple sold 4.58 million iPod units. So, while it’s perfectly correct to state that “Apple sold over 10M iPods in the last two years,” it really doesn’t explain the iPod’s explosive growth and the size of the mountain Sony must climb to eclipse Apple’s iPod. For the sake of clarity: by the end of this quarter, Apple will have sold well over 10 million iPods in 180 days.
“This last will be the problem because early reports indicate that some functions (pictures, music) are too difficult and others (movies) lack the media to make them compelling. Also Sony is clearly having production problems with only a fraction of the product on the market needed to meet demand they have had to delay the European launch of the product providing both Nintendo and Apple with much needed breathing room,” Enderle writes.
“This is a great game player, don’t buy it for features that don’t work well (music/photos), or that lack full support (movies) otherwise you are likely to be disappointed,” Endlere writes.
Full article here.
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
price granularity to the point where there is an iPod for every pocket and requirement
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It’s called price differentiation… the more price points you have to more likely you are to capture consumer surplus (ECON)
just wait.. Thurrott suggests that Longhorn will have about 9 (!!) different price points..
you know.. going from about 150 bucks all the way up to the Super Deluxe version for God only knows how much ($400?!)
I’m just a sucker for portable gear…and had to make a trip for work tha put me a block from Target at 9 this morning. I expected PSP’s to be scarfed up, and went in figuring I’d get one if they had any left. Anyway, the store had opened at 8 and between 8 to 9 they had sold a grand total of one unit. I bought mine, opened it, and the Spiderman disc was missing. The store had a depate involving the electronics cashier, electronics department manager, security guard, and security manager as to what to do. (This was in northeast Philadelphia, the scumbag white trash capital of the Delaware valley where there is a large-scale industry in ripping off electronics stores and retailers.)
Anyway, that whole deal took another half hour, during which nobody showed the least bit of interest in the pile of PSPs sitting in the cabinet. The upshot of the half hour scrum was that exchanged my whole PSP for the Spiderman disk. Anyway, played with the thing tonight and it is a great little game machine, with some quality issues. The screen has a dead pixel, the cover for the battery compartment is such weak, thin plastic that I’m just waiting for it to break, and the interface for the machine is not what you would call intuitive. The english part of the manual is over 100 pages long. I hope the lack of interest continues at the store so there will be units on hand this weekend so I can return this one and try to get a screen with no dead pixesl, although apparently that is quite an issue with the PSP.
Considering the hype, the complete lack of people at the store is pretty incredible.
The idea that PSP is an “iPod Killer” is nothing more than a marketing strategy by SONY. The true competition to the PSP is the Nintendo DS but SONY avoids saying this because due to the price of their product they may never surpass DS sales world-wide and would therefore look second-best.
SONY are also counting on their market dismissing the DS because that can only play games while the PSP features multi-media content, and is therefore a more sophisticated product (arguable). Allready, the talk is focused on what the PSP can do (movies, music & pictures) instead of the games available for it.
Enderle reminds me of the guy in American Beauty–the ex-military guy who was really a closet homosexual. I think he uses, secretly, Macs and gets a lot of pleasure using it. But he can’t admit in public that he uses and loves Macs, because of the history of his public attacks on the platform. Like the movie, he’s a sad, sad person, knowing that if he “came out,” he’d be so much happier, but he can’t.
Rob, do you know why they’re called “gay?” Because they’re so happy they they are honest with themselves. Be honest, and you’ll sleep better; be honest, and get the respect you should deserve.
Reading all this “market” opinion from Apple people is indicative of NOTHING. It is true you are a very small segment of the electronic and computing world, so your opinions do not hold much water outside of preaching to the choir, which is what is going on here now.
If you want to find out the real hype revolving around the PSP go OUTSIDE of Mac forums and websites, people are very interested and excited about this fantastic little machine: it matters not that apple people don’t get “it”.
You mean to tell me that the wal-mart’s in economically depreciated areas of the country still have 47 PSPs left out of their stock of 50!! IT IS A FLOP I TELL YOU!!
Same issue where I live, small bedroom community with no strong local economy except for weak service based jobs (NO manufacturing or High tech jobs) and guess what, the PSPs at the local wally-world are selling like snow suits in August – who would have imaged such a connection between local economics and the selling rate of an expensive toy?
Psilaxs,
I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to say, but the Salt Lake City area is neither economically deprived nor has a weak economy. There are two major universities in the area along with smaller ones and a fair amount of disposable income as a rule (lots of vacationers coming to ski, etc.). As such, I would have expected the PSP to have gotten a bit more local press and there were no midnight store openings that I know of. So, I don’t think the only factor involved in low/slow observed sales is local economy or the clientel of the stores selling them. I agree that may be the case in places, but it would be a mistake to say that as a general rule. My2¢
SirROM
Psilaxs, it was SONY and their stooges in the press who called the PSP an ‘iPod killer’. It seems to me like SONY is trying to sell their device to people who would otherwise buy an iPod. In this context I think that our opinions hold a lot of water because most of us have had a positive experience with the iPod and would like to share this information with anyone contemplating to buy a PSP for music.
And one more thing: the Apple may hold less than 5% of the computer market but they are far more influential than any other company. “Apple people” set the trends for the rest of you to follow.
I bought a PSP yesterday and I will say this – IT IS FREAKING AWESOME!! THe screen is amazing. ALL of the features (music, photo, and video) work excellent.
That said, comparing the PSP to an iPod is completely stupid – and here is why.
NO FRIGGING HARDDRIVE!!!!
The largest memory stick you can buy is 1 gig. HELLO!!! I have a 60 gig iPod that didn’t cost much more than than PSP.
You don’t need Napster to come do the math, do you Rob?
Sorry – forgot to do the math……
1 gig Duo stick = $200.00
60 1 gig Duo sticks = $12,0000
Don’t know about you folks, but $12,000 is a little expensive for an iPod killer, eh? LOL!!!!!!
MDN posters drool too much. Bad as Enderle might be, he never says that the PSP is straight-up competition for the iPod, and dismisses any claims by Sony that it might be–for those that enjoy posting without RTFA he concludes the PSP sucks as a music/video player. What he does suggest is that the iPod and PSP compete for the same consumer dollars–not everybody has money to spend on both PSP and iPod, and some percentage will opt for the PSP.
There is room for both in the marketplace. The PSP is a handheld game machine, nothing more really. So why does everything new that’s ever released have to be assumed as an “iPod killer” to these dipsh*t analysts anyway?
Steve Jobs said:
Will a trained monkey eclipse Rob Endrele in his mother’s affections?
ROFLMAO – priceless!
The PSP is a handheld game machine, nothing more really
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Uhhhhhhhh.. you know it’s also a Portable Media Device right? Do you know what the PSP is?