"By the time third-generation consoles reach market maturity in 2011, the PlayStation 3 will once again be the market leader," said Yankee Group in its report.
The Yankee Group, a Boston industry-research firm, says over the next five years, Sony would sell 30 million PlayStation3s in North America, building a 44% market share.
It seems every industry research firm has its own opinion of who will win the next-generation console race. Some say Wii (don't ask) while others say PS3 and yet more say Xbox 360. Are any of them correct? Thus far they're about as consistent as New England weather stations...
Gamespot had a nice sit down interview with Kaz Hirai, Sony's American Computer Entertainment president, and he shared a little insight. How did he feel about Yankee Group's report?
How do you think he feels!? Of course he's happy - they gave his company the thumbs up. However, Hirai was serious about the notion that all of these companies are just giving "forcasts" on what they believe based on history, some facts, a few rumors, etc. So, although I'm sure Sony is happy with the forcast I am also certain they've heard the other negative ones as well - so being realistic about it is a good thing.
Gamespot also asked the obvious question "is everything on track?" to which Hirai says "yes" and explains that they will be ready in three months for the shipping. Also stating in the interview:
The Yankee Group, a Boston industry-research firm, says over the next five years, Sony would sell 30 million PlayStation3s in North America, building a 44% market share.
It seems every industry research firm has its own opinion of who will win the next-generation console race. Some say Wii (don't ask) while others say PS3 and yet more say Xbox 360. Are any of them correct? Thus far they're about as consistent as New England weather stations...
Gamespot had a nice sit down interview with Kaz Hirai, Sony's American Computer Entertainment president, and he shared a little insight. How did he feel about Yankee Group's report?
"Different people have different opinions, and at this point in time they're all forecasts. And people make forecasts based on the information they have at hand--their experience with what the companies in this space have done in the past, et cetera. And I think that as far as the Yankee Group goes, they've looked at the information they had at hand. It's generally a very positive report, but you can tell they've done a lot of their homework because there are some things that we need to work on. We've had those ups and downs as far as manufacturing is concerned on the console, for example, and that's being properly addressed. So I think they looked at all the information they have at hand--good, bad, or indifferent--and came to this conclusion. And I obviously think that they did a great job on this report."
How do you think he feels!? Of course he's happy - they gave his company the thumbs up. However, Hirai was serious about the notion that all of these companies are just giving "forcasts" on what they believe based on history, some facts, a few rumors, etc. So, although I'm sure Sony is happy with the forcast I am also certain they've heard the other negative ones as well - so being realistic about it is a good thing.
Gamespot also asked the obvious question "is everything on track?" to which Hirai says "yes" and explains that they will be ready in three months for the shipping. Also stating in the interview:
"We haven't started manufacturing yet. Some of our ops guys were actually just in China, and also in Japan just reviewing the [production] lines and everything else. But they are, again, preparing as we speak to get the manufacturing going. We've not announced and we haven't set really a specific date to say, 'As of this day we're going to start manufacturing.'"Interesting, they're not even producing these consoles yet - anyone want to predict the mass shortage on release day?
