Yeah, I mean they just lowered the price. It makes perfect sense to discontinue it now. (Note the sarcasm, though ironically that's exactly what Sony did.)

You can't focus a camera phone, which is what this obviously is.

my camera phone has 2 step auto-focus.

All you need now is a job at Target...

I snapped a photo while at work after reading the initial report. I have personally never seen a PDA to be incorrect involving discontinued items. The blacked out area is removed to prevent tracing back to the store the photo was taken from. It is a camera phone and it was nearly impossible to get it to focus correctly on the PDA screen.

This is from a Target PDA and I used Adobe Photoshop to make it as readable as possible:
http://www.freeimagehost.eu/image/0bc172738628

Original:
http://www.freeimagehost.eu/image/2a8065738810

Ahhh,there it is, Futurama reference of the day! Good job boys, I'll see you tomorrow!

agreed...

like it or not these pricing strategies work. and no, neither sony nor MS cares if you like it. i can't understand why everyone got so mad when sony dropped the 60g price then said it would be discontinued. if you are so pissed about it, A. don't buy it (really stick it to em...), or B. don't wait until the 60gb is gone.

i got my 60 gig p3s about a month ago, and after trading in my ps2 it cost me 420. omg! i fell for the "most ridiculous pricing strategy ever" i must be a dumbass. well, i'm ok with that, because it fell 30 bucks under an elite and i can still enjoy my ps2 games while i wait for something to play other than resistance (on a side note, what % of 360 owners have/play ps2?).

when sony realizes the 80 gig won't sell that much better (or when it's just not up to snuff anymore), they'll likely drop to 500 for a while and then everyone can have a chance again while they re-stock with an upgraded version. besides, it's not like people are clawing for a 60gb ps3 right now, so it's basically a price point that'll stick around, at least for a little while.

on top of that, these aren't decisions that sony or MS make by themselves. they award multi-mil contracts to FM consultants like bcg, bain, mckinsey, etc. to do market research and come up with competitive price points, promotions, etc. **if anything, the fact that MS is dropping an inferior/slower selling version of their product means that market analysis showed that IT WORKED FOR SONY, and MS feels it can also benefit from such a market strategy.**

Good post, and I agree with you. My fear is that the companies are trading price drops for improvements to their models. For example, a likely scenario for Sony in the coming months is to let the 60GB sell out, drop the 80GB to $499, and release a new model at $599. Next spring, summer, they do it again, improving the hardware but keeping the pricepoints of $499 and $599.

This, I believe, is the most ridiculous strategy ever because most console players don't want to update/upgrade/trade-in their machines like PC gamers do. What's smarter - having a super-tech-heavy PS3 at $499, or having the 20GB PS3 at $299? Keep the low end model and the 20GB could be $299 a lot sooner.

So, say MS adopts this strategy. Soon, the Premium is $299. Awesome. After a few months, they drop the Premium and make the Elite $299, while releasing a new model at $399 or whatever.

I complained about the PS3 strategy because it even after the 'cut' it cost USD$500+ to get a PS3, same as on launch day. That's a price cut on the model but not on the product line.

There is one difference though between what you describe for Sony vs. what MS is doing: Sony's biggest obstacle to getting more customers was the high price which they ultimately didn't address except for the limited time current inventory (no parent wants to shell out $600) which is arguably too high even at $500. Most of us assume that they will lower the new model to $500 and will rely on consumer ignorance to buy up the current obsolete inventory.

MS doesn't have the same obstacle of the barrier to entry being too high for casual parent buyers looking to buy a gift. By making the Core more or less the same price as the wii (with comparable no hard drive feature set and both have a requirement to buy addon controllers) is an easier move. The 360 LE though I just don't get unless they made a very limited quantity (which it appears they did).

Do like Nintendo and actually make the game console affordable and profitable from day one... Yeah I know it didn't work for N64 or GCN but it works for everything else.

@vid
true, it is frustrating. an even scarier thought is whether 3 years from now, games will only be compatible with, or perform better on, the newer generation (45 nm newer-falcon chip/next gen cell? who knows..). so, that gets me a little nervous. but then again no one had a problem with the slim ps2.

@deslock
great point about the core. and if anything, sony is marketing the 80 gb to ignorant consumers. it's a terrible buy. but rich kids will still get it because parents have better things to do that read joystiq and figure that out.

@hvnly
because i didnt get an HDtv to play in 480p. and im a snob. and i dont want to have to ever buy another video game system--they are all too expensive imo. i sucked it up and got something i thought would last.

i wish i had a wii though, my gf would love it.

Mark,

I just got off work and checked it. Indeed the core is being discontinued according to my PDA.

sorry, reply was meant for slvrgun

No it's a clearance sale... It's all semantics.

It was always cheaper to buy the Premium since it came with the HDD, wireless controller, headset, and component cables.

The Core is an abomination and still stands as one of the worst ideas MS has had with their gaming division so far (not counting the 360's shoddy motherboard apoxy.)

Not everyone brings their digital camera to work.

Second, although blurry, he said the person took MULTIPLE photos of the PDA (probably from different angles).
That is usually somewhat a sign of legitimacy, when a person takes multiple photos from different angles, and sends in all the photos.

Third, I (and others) work at Target, and can confirm that the Core is labeled as "Discontinued" in the status section of the PDA.
The Premium and Elite are still labeled as "Active".
I checked today.
Lying about this would gain me nothing.

Lastly, you put the *cough* at the beginning and end of the word you're saying, not in the middle.
(*cough* photoshop *cough*)
NOT
(photoshop*cough*photoshop)



(moron *cough* moron)