Sony PlayStation 3 U.S. Sales Fall Short of Target (Update2)
By Dina Bass
Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) --
Sony Corp. sold 197,000 PlayStation 3 consoles in the U.S. during November, missing its goal for initial shipments by half after parts shortages slowed production, market researcher NPD Group Inc. estimated.
Nintendo Co.'s Wii, which also was introduced last month, sold 476,000 units, Port Washington, New York-based NPD said today in an e-mail.
The Microsoft Corp. Xbox 360, on the market for the past year, sold 511,000 machines.
Sony had planned to make 400,000 consoles available at its Nov. 17 U.S. debut and missed that target, providing an opening for Nintendo and Microsoft. Tokyo-based Sony last week replaced PlayStation head Ken Kutaragi and is airlifting machines to the U.S. to meet demand. Wii is benefiting from positive reviews and its $250 price, half the cost of the cheapest PlayStation 3.
``There's no way that Sony will make its forecast for 1 million units in the U.S. this calendar year,'' said Evan Wilson, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon, who rates Sony shares ``sector perform.'' ``They will face supply constraints at least through March.''
Nintendo, which is shipping 250,000 Wiis to the U.S. each week, also hasn't keeping up with demand, said Anita Frazier, an analyst at NPD. ``I have no doubt that many more could have sold if there had been more inventory.''
Nintendo will meet its forecast for 2 million Wiis shipped in the U.S. in 2006, Wilson said. Nintendo, based in Kyoto, Japan, plans to ship 4 million devices worldwide by the end of the year.
Xbox 360, which made its debut in November 2005, ``rebounded nicely'' from a slow summer because of Sony's problems and the release of ``
Gears of War,'' Wilson said. The title from Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft was the top- selling console game in November with
1 million units sold, according to NPD.
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