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Sony Q3 FY15 Results - Beats Market Expectations & 6.4 Million Shipped PS4's
- Thread starter vinnygambini
- Start date
It is not snake oil. My walkman sounds better than any other mobile device I have ever heard. Sure it's expensive, but what price do I put on the enjoyment of most pure and crisp sound most people would ever have heard while I travel to and from work? Enjoying living is far more important than the numbers in my bank account. The walkmans and iems are the real deal.
GoodCoffeeJoey
Banned
Sony should really sell off Pictures. It makes little money and has no synergy with the rest of the company. The cash from the sale would be better re-invested elsewhere.
I think that's their computer/electronic parts division.
KZObsessed
Member
Hoping Sony can hit $299 this holiday with PS4, keep the momentum going.
Miles Quaritch
Member
6.4m PS4 shipped.
So Sony over shipped/channel stuffed? Would make a little sense for the UK at least, considering how crazy the PS4 bundles were in the six weeks to Christmas.
So Sony over shipped/channel stuffed? Would make a little sense for the UK at least, considering how crazy the PS4 bundles were in the six weeks to Christmas.
http://www.whathifi.com/sony/nwz-zx1/review
That one. But don't listen to that point in the link about dsd, the walkman plays them with a firmware update.
Awesome sound, but too slow CPU and IO. But there isn't anything better and sound is most important so..
I doubt we'll see such a price drop. As long as the PS4 continues to sell gangbusters there is no financial or logical reason to drop it. I'd expect 349 by the holidays though.
If you're confident the inventory will sell eventually it's not a terrible idea to make sure you have enough for even the extreme scenario.
I agree with this. Sony is in the rare position that having too much inventory shipped cannot hurt them. Better to be able to meet any demand for a hot product than have inadequate supply. Not like retailers are against stocking more PS4's.
1st Course
Member
Already doing it
Sony bets on image sensors
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Sony-bets-on-image-sensors
Beautiful Ninja
Member
That hasn't stopped Sony in the past, right around 2 years in is when they price drop, regardless of current success. The install base they've fostered up until that point will more than cover the minor hardware profit margins they would be losing through software licensing and PS+ subscriptions.
Sony also looks like they'll be able to save a good chunk of money on the next revision between a SoC shrink and that new high density Samsung GDDR5 that should allow them to cut the amount of RAM modules needed for each console in half.
Miles Quaritch
Member
That's a fair point and you could argue that Sony are in a pretty great position to do this with how well it's selling.
Still, I feel the shipped numbers gives some insight into why the UK had some really amazing bundles/deals. I vaguely recall the mainland having some pretty great bundles/deals too.
rrvv
Member
They sell vaio while ago. Try to think what is other sony electronic products that isn't game, home, mobile, and imagining
Good job Sony in turning a profit. I read alot that Sony prices are high, but in my country, Norway, the prices is very competetive and Sony product often win "Best of" reviews. When I look into purchasing a new product I always have the same process: read reviews both from customers and experts and what gives me most value for my money. Over the recent years I have bought from Sony, all "best in test":
- Blu ray player
- Compact camera
- Xperia phone
- HD digital video camera
- Wireless headphones
And I got a eye for a 60 inch led tv from Sony that won best TV of 2014 from a higly regarded hardware magazine in Norway. Hell I almost bought a new Sony receiver because it got great reviews, but I have a love for Yamaha receivers. So how do Sony prices compare to Samsung/LG and is the value comparable in the states?
- Blu ray player
- Compact camera
- Xperia phone
- HD digital video camera
- Wireless headphones
And I got a eye for a 60 inch led tv from Sony that won best TV of 2014 from a higly regarded hardware magazine in Norway. Hell I almost bought a new Sony receiver because it got great reviews, but I have a love for Yamaha receivers. So how do Sony prices compare to Samsung/LG and is the value comparable in the states?
I fully expect Sony to drop the price to remain competitive and will continue to look for ways to drop the cogs. However, right now Sony is in the unusual position to grow their profit margin and their revenue base. History has no bearing in determining how much they will drop that price. It will be 100% dependent on the market conditions.
travisbickle
Member
They're shipping to over a hundred markets.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
One would think that PS+ would be a big cash cow for yhe Playstation division. I was thinking that Sony would be making hundreds of million from Plus alone.
I couldn't find anything referencing PS+ numbers however their network sales (separate from digital and physical software) was up to $100 million this year. Last year it was at $50 million so they doubled their network revenue in one year (I'd assume PS+ is the cause of this).
I doubt it, werent they saying there would be shortages in europe germany etc. Also deals didnt seem official more so shops like game taking the hit on the bundles to push sales unlike the official price cut and bundles from ms.
Zombie James
Banned
Shit, 6.4M in three months? And this was with all the heavy-hitter releases slipping into 2015, too.
Yeah they on the whole make great tech, as you say most of it wins awards its just a shame most people would rather save a few quid and get a worse bit of tech.
Trust me. I'm a PhD
Member
Going off of the retailer insiders for the US, Xbox1 are over shipped to their distribution centers to as high as ten times their PS4 stock post holiday. If PS4 is overshipped than Xbox1 is in a significantly darker position.
Edit: Wanted to put a link so I do not look like a jackass pulling numbers from nowhere (note: his ban was a GG thread thing, not numbers)
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?p=147048455#post147048455
ScepticMatt
Member
They had a huge write down in Q2, but Q3 is actually slightly profitable:
On another note, Sonys image sensors are selling REALLY great.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Finally a profit. Not a bad one either, clearly inflated by weak yen but a profit nonetheless.
SCE is going great guns and it doesn't look like slowing down any time soon. One thing to note is that software sales have been restated from units to revenue in billions of yen.
Even the mobile division managed to make money this quarter despite strong USD weighing it down. All kinds of crazy happening this Q.
Still, it is becoming clear that HE&S and MPC are being lined up for a disposal, all of the goodwill has been written of in both divisions and thrre are aonly ¥100bn worth of long lived assets left. Compared to Vaio they are in a much better position to dump either or both divisions. Exiting Vaiohas cost them ¥300bn over two years. It is clear that they want to avoid the same high cost exits should they decide to can either of them.
SCE is going great guns and it doesn't look like slowing down any time soon. One thing to note is that software sales have been restated from units to revenue in billions of yen.
Even the mobile division managed to make money this quarter despite strong USD weighing it down. All kinds of crazy happening this Q.
Still, it is becoming clear that HE&S and MPC are being lined up for a disposal, all of the goodwill has been written of in both divisions and thrre are aonly ¥100bn worth of long lived assets left. Compared to Vaio they are in a much better position to dump either or both divisions. Exiting Vaiohas cost them ¥300bn over two years. It is clear that they want to avoid the same high cost exits should they decide to can either of them.
Japan. Vita has been having somewhat of a resurgence there for a while with tons more games coming out. It competes with 3DS weekly now too
Nightengale
Member
The previous quarter "estimation" of ship vs sold-through was around 1.1 million difference, I recall someone on GAF analysed based on the graph trend.
At 1.5 mil difference, there's probably a bit of overshipment,but not significantly above normal trends.
Remember that Sony sells through roughly a million PS4s a month, even through Q1 to Q3 last year. Assuming there's no sales decline, they'll sell through that stock in slightly over a month.
But did it happen in Q4 2015 or Q3 2014?
That happened too recently to be included in these results.
I don't know if you can call it channel stuffing. Keep in mind, that PS4 sold a bit less than a million per month early last year. Difference between sold in and sold through is 1.4M, which amounts to maybe month and a half of stock.
Then you have to take into account that it takes on average something like three weeks to transport the consoles, so that's easily something like 6-700k in transit. Now, we are left with something like 800k consoles in distribution centres and store shelves. Across the whole globe.
Nightengale
Member
Vita actually sold more in the US in December than it did in Japan.
Also, Vita isn't close to competing with 3DS in Japan or doing well at all. Vita hardware is still struggling to outsell Sega Saturn, and software sales aren't that great for it nor are they likely for the rest of the year since most games are small niche visual novels.
COPLonesteban
Neo Member
Ah, nevermind, I see the "constant currency" note in the report. 8% growth is pretty hot but devices seems to be the real star.
Mr_Antimatter
Member
That's actually a good question. I assume the deal was finalized after the new year, given the announcement.
I'm so worried about the Mobile Comunications division ;_; Sony makes the bestAndroid sets right now hands down, they can't stop! But it's not looking good...
I thought it was a great idea from Kaz to double down on smartphone a few years back, that it is the future, that it will take Sony back to profit, now it looks like the biggest anchor.
I thought it was a great idea from Kaz to double down on smartphone a few years back, that it is the future, that it will take Sony back to profit, now it looks like the biggest anchor.
I think that's a key point to take in.
That was probably triggered by MS' suicide price run through the holiday, shops want to move stock and the Xbox one might have sabotaged moving PS4 at a certain pace hence the deals, at least it would explain the UK versus mainland Europe.
Miles Quaritch
Member
Fair enough. I only mentioned it due to the crazy bundling deals that were available. I thought that was a sign of there being excess stock in the supply chian.
I can't speak 100% for the mainland, but I know that Sonyvjad the best deals in the UK. MS didn't bring any game to court. Their main bundle was the crappy ASA Creed duo, Sony were knocking out bundles left and right, with some hitting as low as £280.
It was crazy. O can honestly say I've never seen anything like it before.
What happened with their phone line in Q2? That's a big loss, and it's hard to believe it's just R&D costs.
Did they fire people (since the Vaio line wouldn't need R&D anymore) or something?
The PS2 had a 100/$ pricedrop when it was around 30 months in the market.
And it was selling gangbusters.
So it's totally posible. A 100/$ would be a lot more notorious and drive sales a lot more than 2 smaller drops.
Did they fire people (since the Vaio line wouldn't need R&D anymore) or something?
The PS2 had a 100/$ pricedrop when it was around 30 months in the market.
And it was selling gangbusters.
So it's totally posible. A 100/$ would be a lot more notorious and drive sales a lot more than 2 smaller drops.
Nightengale
Member
Honestly, we do need to see if Sony are able to maintain their current sell-through rate. 1.5 million isn't a big deal if they can continue their 1 mil a month rate, but if not, then there's reason to be concerned.
It will be dependant on what their forecasts suggest. I doubt a company like Sony will want to react to market conditions and instead guide them to their direction.
Selling 12M at the current price might seem great but if they can sell 18M by dropping the price the extra users can easily make up the margin difference and it gives them more time to spend more money through the course of the generation. It also strengthens the network effect making future purchases come that bit easier.
The console itself is just one of many variables to the overall profit of the division and maximising profit for the whole division might mean sacrificing margin in one area to increase it further in others.
Thanks for the info!
Had to search what "write down" meant in a financial context since I'm not a native english speaker, but it doesn't sound all that bad.
It was really weird seeing how their phone sales are up YoY yet they had such a big loss
BrokenIcarus
Member
So what are PS4 overall shipments?
Nightengale
Member
19.9