Sony,s plan to produce at least 4 million PS3 units by the end of the year may have hit a snag. A report by DigiTimes has indicated that the manufacturers of the blue laser diodes, a crucial component for Blu-ray DVD players, is in very short supply due to the lack of sufficient yields during processing.
The shortfall of quantities from the Asian OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) of the PS3 has inside sources speculating that the scarcity will cut back the 4 million unit goal by half.
In spite of this news, industry watchers believe that Sony,s decision to include a Blu-ray drive in the PS3 may have ramifications that were not expected. Technical director for Ubisoft, Mark DeLoura, offered his opinion.
"Blu-Ray drives and discs have been very sparse so marketplace awareness is slight – it is more accurate to compare against the BD launches of 2006, which would make Blu-Ray for PS3 significantly earlier in the marketplace than was DVD for PS2. The result is that the Blu-Ray drives for PS3 are expensive, and the demand for Blu-Ray movies in the marketplace has not flowered open yet. PS3 could stoke that fire, but it doesn’t seem likely that Blu-Ray will significantly drive sales of the PS3 beyond a small hardcore market, in the short term."
DeLoura continued, “It seems the decision to include Blu-Ray on PS3 must have been a difficult one. Long term it seems like a smart move, at least from the perspective of capacity. But short term that decision has definitely had some striking ramifications for PS3."
