News - Sony to charge £3,500 for OLED TV. Half price in US

[Agent]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7843982.stm

Wonder why

[BUFF]

Panaonic, Samsung & Toshiba are also supposed to be reporting losses - as they said "it's the economy, stupid".

You have to compare apples to apples though & not oranges.
In the UK we quote prices including VAT whereas in the USA they quote excluding sales tax - that's an instant 15% difference & then you have exchange rate variance between the £/yen & $/yen.
Also in the UK that will be the msrp & we will expect to see a significantly lower street price - in the US Sony have a scheme called SURE that means that the street price will not vary much from the msrp (otherwise dealers lose bonuses/promotional support etc.).

[Jay]

no one will buy that... I can't see the point in it.

[Cuffz]

Maybe have it inbuilt into the back of your mansions bathrooms doors? .

[Breezey]

Yea nice going Sony, youve made a lovely thin tv but its got a stupid box with all the gubbins in, makes life easy for people who want who wall mount tho doesnt it. Pricetag speaks for itself, at that price nobody will buy one especially not if they have read this page andknow it can be had for $2500.

We wouldn't be surprised to see Sony chop £1,000 off the price in the next few days in a special 'sale'.

EDIT : now i know its an 11" make it £3300 tbh

[CK_1985]

blah blah blah.

As has already been pointed out, it's an 11" TV. Even if it was being sold for £1,750 here you would be crazy (or completely minted) to spend that amount of money on it. As it stands it's twice that price, and I would wager than exactly the same number of them will be sold. And not a single one of them to a Hexus member.

So what's the problem? It's not like anyone that has already commented in this thread was going to buy one anyway.

Sony have obviously done their homework and decided that they can charge this amount for the product. it is their legal obligation to their shareholders to make as much money as possible. No-one else is selling a TV like this so they can charge whatever they believe people will pay for it.

Good on you Sony. And I say this without even the slightest hint of sarcasm.

I completely agree Funkstar - it's a case of 'what the market will bear', so anyone who is willing to pay this much only has themselves to blame.

My only quibble is that, strictly speaking, the duty of the board is to maximise the shareholder wealth - and obviously making profits is great for the share price, but good PR is important too. Hence, it's not the price itself but the discrepancy between UK and US pricing that I find galling, and from a PR point of view it needs to be adressed or at least explained by Sony.

[davidcrofter]

Will freeview look any good on this ... interested

[Breezey]

Will freeview look any good on this ... interested

By a normal tv and 10 year subscription to sky HD for the same price

[Fraz]

Will freeview look any good on this ... interested

WTF? What makes you think the freeview in particular will look bad? Oh, and another WTF at the "interested" bit.

[Fraz]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7843982.stm

Wonder why

If I was Sony I'd make up the £1.2bn loss by raising the price of the OLED TV to £1.2bn, and keep my fingers crossed for a passing multi-billionaire to make an impulse purchase. I can't imagine the sales numbers will be much different if they keep it at £3500...

[Bluecube]

Interesting. I've just a had a solid gold frame made a few trinkets I had lying around and I think this TV will be perfectly adorable sitting in it. Such a bargain at only three and a half thousand pounds. Keeps it out of the hands of the plebians doncha know?

[Jay]

there will be more than this than meets the eye.

I bet there will be some tech award that to qualify for you need a model in actual production and available to buy. Sony know they can't actully produce these TVs in any sort of numbers and want to make sure no one buys one.

[Funkstar]

There is probably something in that Jay.

I'm really tired of people bemoaning the fact that things are sold for more money here than the equivelant in the US. Especially when it comes to items that no-one doing the complaining is ever going to buy.

On the other hand, software which you can download (like the Adobe range) that is so much more expensive in the UK than else where is rediculous. And don't get me started on the "download price includes shipping costs as well" issue.

[Fraz]

I'm really tired of people bemoaning the fact that things are sold for more money here than the equivelant in the US. Especially when it comes to items that no-one doing the complaining is ever going to buy.

Well, I'm tired of people that don't moan about it. People should kick up a fuss - it's an outrageous practice irrespective of the cost of the object.

[mayhem]

they will probably say its because its ran in pal not ntsc ...... lol

[mastino08]

Crazy money for a tv of that size regardless of how new the technology is!