Analysts and developers of the Playstation 3 are expecting the cost of the new system to be anywhere between $399 and $700. While the estimated prices varied, the most common response in a poll by CNNMoney was that a launch price of $499 would be most likely.

In the report, Chris Morris spoke to a number of analysts and developers (under anonymity) and only one predicted the PS3 would go sale for $399 - the amount the Xbox 360 was released for throughout North America.

P.J. McNealy, from American Technology Research, agreed with the majority.

“[Sony] could now consider launching its Playstation 3 at a price range of $399 to $499, with the $499 price point more likely,”

he told clients.

Sony refused to speculate on the matter and dismissed it as rumor.

Last month however, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, Ken Kutargi, revealed that he did not believe price would be an issue and that people would be willing to pay top dollar for the home-entertainment console. His comments could indicate that Sony have been planning to release the PS3 at a higher price than expected.

“Whether consumers think a product is expensive or cheap all depends on the balance between its appeal and price. Our ideal [for the PS3] is for consumers to think to themselves, ‘OK, I’ll work more hours and buy it.’ We want people to feel that they want it, no matter what…

I’m confident that the PS3 is a product that people will definitely want,”

he said.

It was originally predicted by Merrill Lynch Japan Securities that the cost at launch of the Sony’s next-gen console would be $399 but expectations have since been raised by most critics, partly due to the announcement at the CES that stand alone Blu-ray players would go on shelves for over $1000.

The Pioneer BDP-HD1 Blu-ray player is set to be priced at around $1800 on its own.

It is hard to imagine that with a Blu-ray player and its other pricey features, such as the Hard drive, Cell processor and nVidia graphics chip, the Playstation 3 will be able to launch for the same price that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was.

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