Sony Plans 500 PS3 For Taiwanese Launch

Following the announcement that the PlayStation 3 would launch in Hong Kong and Taiwan on November 17th, the same day as the North American launch, an article on technology website DigiTimes suggests that only 500 units of the console will be available on day one. The information reportedly comes from the Taiwanese branch of Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong (SCEH), which is organizing a launch ceremony in downtown Taipei where 150 consoles will be made available. An additional 350 units are to be sold through thirty-five selected retail outlets – each getting only ten units each. These include seven Tsann Kuen electronics stores, eight Fnac chain stores and Sony’s own franchise stores. As previously announced, only the larger 60GB version of the console will be launched initially, with the 20GB version due in December. The 60GB version will be priced at TW$17,980 ($545) and the 20GB version at TW$14,980 ($454). The news follows suggestions yesterday from an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets that Sony’s day one allocations for the PlayStation 3 in North America could be as low as 150,000 to 200,000 units. Proportional to the size of its market, the Taiwanese allocation would be generally comparable to these figures.