Cost reduction is a blessing when your making an expensive product – especially one that was originally unprofitable to sell due to component cost such as the Playstation 3. When the PS3 first arrived, it cost Sony approximately $800 per unit because of Blu-ray and so forth. In January 2008 reports surfaced that the manufacturing costs had been reduced by 50% to approximately $400. Now, Sony’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Nobuyuki Oneda has confirmed on a recent investor conference call that PS3 manufacturing costs are down 70%, which is about $240. This may indicate that a price cut could be coming soon, or perhaps opening the door for that lower-priced new slim model everyone is speculating about.
