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Analysts expect $499 price for 80GB PS3 over holidays

We can't say we didn't expect it, let alone haven't heard it before and probably had some report on it a while back. Once again, those number-crunching-guessing analysts are setting up consumers for one of two things: an expected result or disappointment. There are no pleasant surprises anymore, huh? Anyway, Wedbush Morgan's own Michael Pachter and simExchange's Jesse Divnich came out of the forest to proclaim the 60GB model PS3 will vanish by the holidays and the 80GB model will fully replace it -- price and all. Yep, they sense Sony will lower the 80GB model to $499 and keep it there.

Other sales boosts, the two say, could come in the form of more software bundles and Jesse Divnich is "confident that through the coming months, Sony will make the correct decisions to prevent the gap between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 to widen." Pachter chimes in also with the idea that in early 2008, Sony may be prepared to cut the price of their console again. We don't think we'll see another $100 price drop, but if one does happen, we bet it'd be about $50. That's our analysis, what's yours?