What most people fail to realise when they are comparing a stand-alone blu-ray player to a PS3 is the amortisation of R&D costs.
Looking at just the blu-ray functionality only, to purchase a solution and then build it up to final production stage may cost $500k and you are probably going to build 1000 units for the first run. That is already $500 per unit on R&D costs alone, and when you add in licences and hardware costs etc, then it will go over $1k per unit.
If you look at Sony, they will build over 1M units, so the cost per unit to add blu-ray is much smaller than a stand-alone blu-ray player. Also, Sony will probably absorb all its costs to make blu-ray ubiquitous so they can earn all their money from licensing fees.
So, Sony will subsidise the PS3 through games, and through bluray license fees. That will lower the cost of the unit significantly. By how much is the question.
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What most people fail to realise when they are comparing a stand-alone blu-ray player to a PS3 is the amortisation of R&D costs.
Looking at just the blu-ray functionality only, to purchase a solution and then build it up to final production stage may cost $500k and you are probably going to build 1000 units for the first run. That is already $500 per unit on R&D costs alone, and when you add in licences and hardware costs etc, then it will go over $1k per unit.
If you look at Sony, they will build over 1M units, so the cost per unit to add blu-ray is much smaller than a stand-alone blu-ray player. Also, Sony will probably absorb all its costs to make blu-ray ubiquitous so they can earn all their money from licensing fees.
So, Sony will subsidise the PS3 through games, and through bluray license fees. That will lower the cost of the unit significantly. By how much is the question.