Sony has no plans to cut PlayStation 3 price

By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kentaro Hamada

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp. has no plans to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) at present to pep up demand and counter surging sales of Nintendo's rival game console Wii, Sony's president said on Friday.

Sony President Ryoji Chubachi also said in an interview that operating profit margin at its mainstay electronics unit, which makes hot-selling Bravia LCD televisions and Cyber-shot digital cameras, was likely to exceed its 4 percent target for the current year to March 2008.

"At present we have no plans," Chubachi told Reuters when asked whether Sony had any plans to cut the PS3 price.

Sony has packed cutting-edge technology such as a Blu-ray high-definition optical disc player into the PS3, driving up production costs and making its retail price more than twice as expensive as the Wii.

The higher price tag and lack of attractive software titles have been cited as main reasons the PS3 has been trailing the Wii in sales, and analysts have been widely expecting Sony to soon slash the price to spur on demand.

In a Reuters poll of four game analysts this week, three expected Sony to cut PS3 prices by $100 by the end of the year, while one analyst said a cut of $150 is more likely.

The PS3, with a 60-gigabyte hard disk drive, carries a price tag of $599 in the United States, while the Wii sells for about $250.

"If you take a look at how PlayStation and PlayStation 2 have taken off, this is not such an unusual start," Chubachi said.