PSX losing its luster?

TOKYO--A shopping trip to Akihabara today suggested that the bloom is off the PSX's rose. Sony’s new console/entertainment center launched just one week ago on December 13. But a salesman at LaOX, a major Japanese electronics retailer, confirmed that it was possible to buy a PSX without a reservation. That's rare for a new product in Japan, let alone one as heavily hyped as the PSX.

The console was also given short shrift at the LaOX's entrance, where it lost the competition for display space to a salesman hawking broadband connections. The neighboring electronics shop also had PSXs in stock, with no need to wait in line or pre-order.

Sony has commented that it pushed the PSX launch back to mid-December in order to build up inventory. This might explain why it’s now possible to buy the console without pre-ordering: Sony stockpiled enough consoles to meet demand after the first-week rush. But the low priority assigned to PSX visual merchandising by electronics retailers does seem to suggest that consumer interest is flagging.

One possible culprit: competition from other Sony products. One display inside another LaOX had a PSX next to a Sony Blu-ray DVD recorder, capable of burning 23 gigabytes onto dedicated Blu-ray media. Meanwhile, Sony’s Sugo Roku personal video recorder/DVD burner was just around the corner, and priced almost $200 below the PSX's at just 59,800 yen ($554).

It seems that Sony hasn’t been able to differentiate the PSX sufficiently from its own products, let alone products from other manufacturers.