Sony Corp., the world's biggest video-game console maker, will delay sales of the PlayStation 3 by about six months to early November, giving Microsoft Corp. more time to increase its share of the $20 billion global market.
The company had problems with a copy protection format for its Blu-ray high-definition DVD player, preventing a planned release this spring, Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., said at a media conference in Tokyo today.
Sony would be a year behind Microsoft, which released its latest Xbox 360 console in the U.S. in November 2005. The PlayStation 3 features Sony's Blu-ray technology and its fastest processor ever, forming a key part of Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer's strategy to use entertainment businesses to spur sales of consumer electronics.
"The delay is negative, and the more important question is when they can start sales in the U.S.," Kazuharu Miura, a Tokyo- based analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research, said before the announcement. ``The Xbox 360 already had one run at the holiday sales last year, and if Sony can't get the PS3 out before year- end, they'll end up ceding two seasons worth of sales to Microsoft.''
Sony is targeting production of 1 million units a month for a global launch of the PlayStation 3 in November, Kutaragi said.
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Sony Delays PlayStation 3 Release Until November 
