Sony Spends $448.73 Building Each $399 PS3

If you’re still hoping the rumors of a big PS3 price cut in early 2009 are true, you may want to reconsider. According to iSuppli’s most recent analysis, Sony is still losing money on every PS3 sold—but they’re steadily getting closer to the break-even point.

During launch, analysts estimated the cost of building a PS3 (the $599 launch unit) at $840. Now, thanks to Sony using new parts and reducing the total part count from 4,048 to 2,820, the price of building the $399 unit is only $448.73. Obviously a much smaller number for Sony to swallow on each console sold.

If technology trends keep on the same pace, and if Sony follows the same pattern they’ve been following, iSuppli predicted that Sony would reach the break-even point on each PS3 sold during 2009, and start making a profit on each machine after that. Of course, once Sony reaches the break-even point there’s a chance they’ll drop the price a bit to sell more consoles, but until then it’s likely they’ll keep things as-is. My guess? We’ll see a price cut around mid-2009 at the earliest, unless Sony is keen on losing more money sooner.

Can a Blu-ray/DVD hybrid disc save Blu-ray?

While Blu-ray player and disc sales apparently are climbing, movie executives repeatedly said that the Blu-ray has been a rather disappointing business so far. HD DVD may be dead, but movie streaming is developing into a serious rival for the Blu-ray disc and we hear that this Christmas is considered to be a make or break event for the technology. A new Blu-ray/DVD hybrid disc brings new hope that more Blu-ray media will be sold. Is it enough?

A Blu-ray/DVD hybrid has been protoyped by JVC before, but it seems thatInfiniti Storage Media will be the first company to enable a mass production of titles on such discs. The discs consist of a dual-layer DVD structure and a single layer Blu-ray on top. The total capacity is 33.5 GB (25 GB + 8.5 GB). The disc follows the "Blu-ray Disc, Hybrid Format" specifications provided by the Blu-ray Disc Association.  

The concept of the disc is relatively simple – it uses layers of film that reflect the blue lasers and enable content to be read from the Blu-ray layer, while red lasers will go through the film to access the DVD area. 

However, the format itself has never been the problem of Blu-ray. A much more interesting question is why consumers should choose such a hybrid disk over a regular Blu-ray disk (when they already have a Blu-ray player) or over a regular DVD (if they only have a DVD player, but want to future-proof their purchase)? For most consumers, the answer will come down to the price of hybrid content and common sense would suggest that such a hybrid disk cannot be produced for less money than either a DVD or a Blu-ray disk. 

It seems that initial hybrid releases, which will only be available in Japan, will be very pricey. According to CDRInfo, the first hybrid package consisting of four discs will retail for about $406, while the 7-DVD version currently sells for about $266, which means that the hybrid package carries a 52% premium. This may be in the range of the premium consumers pay more Blu-ray discs over DVDs, but there is no doubt that the cost is rather high.   

And at least at this time, there seem to be more pessimistic than optimistic Blu-ray people out there: A new format war is already emerging – between Blu-ray and HD movie streaming.    

We haven’t seen the hybrid media yet, but we cannot see many reasons how the format could succeed. To us, it looks like a classic case of dead on arrival.

Hybrid entertainment formats have not exactly worked for the industry in the past. For example, Warner had an idea in early 2007 to promote a HD DVD/Blu-ray hybrid disc, but shelved the idea later in the year when it became clear that Blu-ray was gaining a lead. 


What is your take? Would an available hybrid Blu-ray/DVD disc change your mind about Blu-ray? What value would you see in such a disc? Let us know by writing a comment below.

Rumor mill dishes out iPhone nano

Macworld Expo may be a bit different this year. It will be the last year of the tradeshow and there will not be a Steve Jobs holding a keynote. It could be a rather boring event, but one could also expect a big announcement - such as the currently rumored iPhone nano. If we believe media reports, then Apple could prepare a device that is wider and thicker than the iPhone 3G. The selling point is believed to be an aggressive price to put the entry-level iPhone within reach of people who cannot afford an iPhone 3G. However, a lack of 3G and a lower-resolution display would make such an iPhone nano incompatible with any of the App Store programs or games and raises some doubt whether this product is real.   

As Apple's last keynote at the Macworld Expo approaches, the rumor mill churns out one more round of Macworld predictions. The most interesting so far is about a smaller version of the iPhone 3G called the iPhone nano. According tounconfirmed reports, the device will be wider and thicker than its bigger sibling and carry a mirror screen. Its biggest selling point may be a lower price, but we don’t quite buy this rumor just yet.

Most of us here at TG Daily do not believe that an iPhone nano is in the works and that such a product would make sense anyway, despite those pieces of "evidence" popping up all over the Web with a "smaller, cheaper" tagline. If we exclude enthusiast drawings and wish-lists of features, the only so-called evidence of iPhone nano is hidden in a blog, whose authors claim to have access to industry sources. A rough rendering of the device published on the site of the online store iDeals China generated lots of excitement as it depicts some of the features of a (not yet) non-existent device.

If we believe these rumors, the iPhone nano will share the outline and height of its larger brother but with wider and thicker appearance. Miniaturized iPhone will also sport a smaller 320x240 resolution touchscreen with  mirror reflection while it is turned off, in addition to a 2 megapixel camera, an accelerometer, proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor. The rumors claim that there will be no 3G capability. The bloggers expect Apple to unveil the iPhone nano at the Macworld Expo in January 2009, with an anticipated early-January availability at all distribution points across the nation that currently carry the iPhone 3G, including Apple and Wal-Mart stores. The handset is expected to come at an aggressive price point to cater for a lower segment of price-conscious consumers who cannot afford a $199 iPhone 3G with a two-year service contract.

The same website claims the third generation iPhone is currently "being worked on in China." iDeals China incorrectly predicted in August that the iPod touch will gain GPS capability and published fake iPod renderings but it did hit a home run with an actual Griffin iPhone 3G case molding shown ahead of the handset’s official launch in July. Another source, a well-known silicon case vendor XSKN, already has a section on its online store dedicated to the upcoming accessories for the iPhone nano. XSKN was one of the first sources to showcase the final shape of the current iPod nano.

We doubt that these renderings in fact show a future iPhone nano, but we also know that this vendor started selling real iPhone 3G cases ahead of official handset release. That said, the report should be taken with a grain of salt, since the track record of these sources isn’t exactly perfect and some have been accused of fabricating Apple-related rumors in the past to draw traffic to their sites. 

In our opinion, the biggest deal-breaker for an iPhone nano is its smaller-resolution 320x240 display that is consistently mentioned across all related iPhone nano rumors. Even if we put aside the fact that a smaller screen dimension would make typing on a virtual keyboard a frustrating experience, it would render the iPhone nano incompatible with all current App Store programs and games that are hard-coded for the iPhone 3G's 480x320 resolution. If you ask us, Apple would be foolish to add a non-App Store-compatible iPhone to the lineup. It would make the lives of developers much more difficult and it certainly would be a very unusual decision from a company that likes to keep things simple.

Sunlight illuminates LG’s latest notebook LCD

Sunlight is usually something you want to avoid when working with a notebook outside. In the case of LG’s new 14.1” LCD, however, you actually want sunlight - and lots of it: The LCD is driven by sunlight, features an increased contrast ratio and can save up to 75% power over regular LCD panels.


LG Display may have one of the more interesting LCD innovations at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which will open its doors in early January. The company said it will demonstrate a new TFT LCD for notebooks that is specifically designed for outdoor use: The 14.1” panel is illuminated by sunlight instead of the standard backlight unit when used outside. 

What makes this panel special is the integration of selective reflection plates in existing backlight panels, which enable the switch from reflective mode in a high luminance setting (sunlight) to transmissive mode in a low luminance setting (indoors and at night). LG claims that the display achieves an outdoor contrast ratio that is up to four times higher than what regular LCDs can provide in a similar setting. The switch from sunlight to backlight mode is simply done “with the touch of a button”, LG said.

Running a notebook LCD with the help of sunlight sharply cuts the power consumption of the most power hungry hardware in today’s notebooks as well. In sunlight mode, the display will use only 25% of the power used in backlight mode, LG promises. Since LCDs consume considerable amounts - typical 14.1” LCDs can consume somewhere between 50 and 70 watts – a power reduction of about 75% is significant.

PlayStation Home Voice Chat Restored, Screws Sex Chats with Reality Again

After cutting down the voice chat feature in PlayStation Home, Sony PlayStation Network's Abigail Murphy says that their new 1.05 update brings the feature back but limiting it to users' personal spaces and clubhouses:

PlayStation Home update 1.05 is scheduled to be released on December 22. With this new update, users will be able to use the voice chat within their personal space and clubhouses to communicate and share with friends online.

By clicking on their PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation Network column of XMB, users will be able to update PlayStation Home to 1.05. Users who are online with PlayStation Home will need to log-off and click on PlayStation Home icon.

HTC May Make Second Android Phone By April, Says Unreliable Site

Digitimes, who was already kinda wrong this morning, says that HTC will release a second Android phone by April and a third is already in development.

The third phone already being in development is a super-obvious rumor, since every company has tons of things going on simultaneously, but a second Android phone by April? Sure, that's possible. I mean, all HTC needs to do is pick one of the hundreds of form factors they already have, slap the Android OS on it, make sure stuff like the battery life isn't atrocious, and it's going to be better than the G1.

However, being possible is one thing, but being true is another. So we'll wait and see whether or not April is the right month.