80% of launch PS3s will ship with HDMI
If you do manage to get your hands on one of the 400,000 Playstation 3's expected to be available in North America at launch, there is a very good chance you'll be buying one of the $600 60GB, HDMI & Wi-Fi-equipped (but no HDMI-cable) editions. This information of an 80/20 split in launch availability comes courtesy of an analyst who met with "Sony Playstation management", that also confirmed that despite the recent change in launch estimates, Sony thinks the blue laser diode shortage will be history by January 2007 and they'll be able to produce 1.2 million Playstation 3s (plus however many BDP-S1s, BWU-100As etc.) every month. Also of note was his expectation that Sony will put their online service on display at the Tokyo Game Show, including an internet browser and "full music and video downloads". We've been enjoying high-def streaming and HD downloads from Xbox Live Marketplace for almost a year, Sony needs to prove they can put together an interface and content package that matches up.
