Tech Shout!

Sony Corp.’s next-generation PlayStation 3 video game console may not be shipped in markets as early as 2006 and could initially cost the company $900 per unit to produce, quoted analysts at Merrill Lynch in the Financial Times on Sunday.

Sony has planned to have a spring launch for its console in Japan and the industry is not expecting a North American launch until November, the Financial Times said.

However Hitoshi Kuriyama of Merrill Lynch in Japan said there are reports that the PS3 could be delayed by between six and 12 months, meaning an autumn launch in Japan and a late 2006 or early 2007 launch in the US, said the Financial Times.

Financial Times said that Merrill Lynch analysts in San Francisco have estimated that the initial bill of materials for PS3 could approach $900, falling to $320 by three years after launch.

The inferences are that Sony could have to take a considerable loss on the PS3 through subsidies or risk low sales at the higher price and hand the advantage to Microsoft Corp. to be first to market with its Xbox 360 next-generation consoles, the FT said.

The Financial Times said that Sony will possibly unveil more information about its plans for the console at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose in March and the E3 video games show in Los Angeles in May.