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PS3, XBox or Wii: Pros and Cons of Gaming Consoles

The thing is though Yaser is that if you're Sony you have this dilemma. You either scrap the Blu-Ray as standard in the PS3 idea and release the product world wide pre Christmas so that everyone can get one. That idea would also make it cheaper. Short term that is a great way to gain market share. But then you have this long term vision of the company as a whole. Blu-Ray is very much part of that vision. Not only that you are acutely aware that Blu-Ray faces just as big a battle against HD DVD as the PS3 has against the Xbox 360 and the Wii.

Here's where I am sure Sony have made the right choice.

The PS brand is huge. People are very loyal to it and they are also aware that the PS3 is far more powerful than it's competitors. Blu-Ray on the other hand is completely new and has no customer loyalty yet. It is also competing against a competitor that costs half as much that does exactly the same thing. Sony knows that in order for Blu-Ray to win it need some serious help. Not least because early market adoption of Blu-Ray and HD DVD is likely to be slow. So what better way to give Blu-Ray the advantage than to include it, as standard, in the big brother of something that has sold 100m units and has an army of fans and that is also much more powerful than it's new rivals.

Short term? Yes Sony definitely loses out. Long term? Well it's far from guaranteed but by saying no to the carrot on the stick they've given themselves a chance of feasting on far more profits in the future.

I say Bravo Sony. Or should that be Bravia?