Sony price drop speculation

flyash · 06-21-2010, 10:29 PM

So now that there is a $150 Nook wifi and a $189 Kindle, how long before Sony follows suit? To be fair, they have cut prices on the PRS-600, which was $250 up until recently (with sales down to $200), but now is regularly priced at $200.

But the $350 tag on the PRS-900 looks downright comical after today's price cuts.

So, how soon does Sony cave? The talk around here seems to be they will have new readers out in fall, but I don't think they can afford the marketshare/mindshare loss between now and the fall that is sure to occur with today's pricing differentials.

boswd · 06-21-2010, 10:34 PM

Sony historically has been stubborn with their electroncis in price dropping. They still feel people will buy their products no matter what the price because of it's name.

Well they've let Samsung take over the HDTV market and heck even Vizio outsells them
They allowed Apple to come in swoop up the MP3 portable device market
They allowed Amazon come in and do the same thing in the e-reader market and allowed Barnes and Noble to come in the back door.

Weird company that is of that size to allow this to happen.

flyash · 06-21-2010, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boswd

Weird company that is of that size to allow this to happen.

Aside from the Playstation, Sony has seemed quite flat-footed since the convergence between consumer electronics and computers began. And even with the Playstation, they let Nintendo come back from having one foot in the grave to leapfrogging right over them.

I agree, it does seem they rely on the reputation forged in the 70s and 80s, but it's a different game now. Many categories of consumer electronics products are not expected to last 10 years (as many people will upgrade after 2 or 3 years), so the Sony brand doesn't carry the pricing clout it did back when folks were buying Trinitrons they wanted to last for 15 years.

neilmarr · 06-22-2010, 03:45 AM

When I bought my PRS-505 from London early last year, the price tag was just over £200 -- near as dammit $400 at the time. It's worked like a Trojan and I've never regretted a penny of what I spent. But I have my reader: my concern these days is to encourage other folks to get theirs. Good as the Sony hardware might be, they must drop prices if they are to attract more people to the concept of reading on a device. Unlike Kindle, which is pretty well tied to Amazon, the Sony is more flexible ... but it does have its device-dedicated store, so the Sony PRS is largely a delivery vehicle for other merchandise. The price of readers should take this cash-spinning byproduct into account. Cheers. Neil

06-21-2010, 10:29 PM	#1
flyash Groupie Posts: 196 Karma: 1003498 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: none	Sony price drop speculation So now that there is a $150 Nook wifi and a $189 Kindle, how long before Sony follows suit? To be fair, they have cut prices on the PRS-600, which was $250 up until recently (with sales down to $200), but now is regularly priced at $200. But the $350 tag on the PRS-900 looks downright comical after today's price cuts. So, how soon does Sony cave? The talk around here seems to be they will have new readers out in fall, but I don't think they can afford the marketshare/mindshare loss between now and the fall that is sure to occur with today's pricing differentials.

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06-21-2010, 10:34 PM	#2
boswd Banned Posts: 2,391 Karma: 1001781 Join Date: May 2010 Device: The Nook, Nook color and Droid X	Sony historically has been stubborn with their electroncis in price dropping. They still feel people will buy their products no matter what the price because of it's name. Well they've let Samsung take over the HDTV market and heck even Vizio outsells them They allowed Apple to come in swoop up the MP3 portable device market They allowed Amazon come in and do the same thing in the e-reader market and allowed Barnes and Noble to come in the back door. Weird company that is of that size to allow this to happen.

06-22-2010, 03:45 AM	#4
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	When I bought my PRS-505 from London early last year, the price tag was just over £200 -- near as dammit $400 at the time. It's worked like a Trojan and I've never regretted a penny of what I spent. But I have my reader: my concern these days is to encourage other folks to get theirs. Good as the Sony hardware might be, they must drop prices if they are to attract more people to the concept of reading on a device. Unlike Kindle, which is pretty well tied to Amazon, the Sony is more flexible ... but it does have its device-dedicated store, so the Sony PRS is largely a delivery vehicle for other merchandise. The price of readers should take this cash-spinning byproduct into account. Cheers. Neil

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