Sony Still Hoping For 1 Million PS3's In 2006

Despite launching with less than half the expected 400,000 units last month, Sony is still confident that 1 million PS3's will be "in the pipeline" by the end of the year.

While PS3 sales have been low due to small shipments, Sony is pleased with the NPD sales numbers for November which show both the PS2 and PSP selling 664,000 and 412,000 units respectively.

"These figures clearly demonstrate the strength of the PlayStation family of products in the US market," David Karraker, the head of Sony PR. "PlayStation 3 remains one of the most sought after items this holiday season, selling through almost immediately in all retailers once placed on store shelves. We will continue to utilize airfreight delivery for PlayStation 3 to assure a steady stream of systems for North American consumers through the end of the year. And while initial day-one launch shipment goals weren't achievable due to early manufacturing issues, those problems have been resolved and we do remain focused on having one million PS3's in the pipeline by December 31, 2006."

Exactly what "in the pipeline" means remains to be seen, but Sony seems confident now that manufacturing issues have been resolved.