An investigation by tech research company iSuppli has estimated that it costs Sony $448.73 to build a single PlayStation3. The standard price of the entry level machine is the US is $399.

We are not businessmen, but that doesn't sound like the sort of deal Alan Sugar would sign off with much enthusiasm.

This is at least a staggering drop from the estimated $800-or-so it's believed to have cost Sony to stuff a blu-ray drive and all other electronic bits into PS3 back in 2006 when it launched in the US and Japan, so there's something Sony executives can put on a graph and make look impressive - "We are now losing less money than ever!"

At today's plummeting exchange rate, that $448.73 build cost works out at almost exactly £299 - or the official UK retail price of a PS3 after the retailers have had their cut - so it's unlikely that even Sony's vague successes in Europe have led to it making any money on flogging the machine here.

So the chances of a price cut next year? Pretty slim if Sony ever wants to turn its PlayStation business into a profitable one.

(Via NeoGAF)

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