In the face of escalating speculation that the US launch of the PSP had been something of a disaster, various reports surfacing today are offering estimates of between 500,000 and 700,000 units sold within the first week of sales.
Sony had been the target of some rather clever anti-PR in the mainstream news press, not least those based in Seattle, the hometown of Microsoft and Nintendo. Purely a coincidence, of course.
According to Credit Suisse First Boston, citing its own survey of retailers, Sony sold 600,000 to 700,000 units of the PSP during its initial week on sale. Other estimates from various financial institutions mirror these figures, with only the omnipresent spectre of JP McNealy offering a sub-half million guess.
This news will serve to settle the nerves of industry nose-tappers who had been mulling over reports which spoke of lacklustre non-specialist outlets sell-through rates.
Although this isn’t the total clearance of all 1,000,000 units prepared for the expected US rush, it does illustrate the demand for the PSP and comes in the face of what can only be described as a belated marketing drive backed by some of the most obscure and pointlessly self-serving US PR work ever seen.
SPOnG would like to make it clear that in no way does it believe the relatively close proximity of two Sony rivals to a large and possibly litigious newspaper had any bearing on the initial stories whatsoever. Honest.