Friday, November 17, 2006

Time for an anti-dumping suit against Sony?

According to this item, Sony is selling PS3 for less than it costs to build it:
The cost of manufacturing and materials for the low-end, 20GB version of the console comes to $805.85 ... That means that for every PS3 Sony sells for $499, it will lose $306.85 on components alone. Marketing and advertising costs would then boost the actual cost to Sony even higher.
The federal anti-dumping laws (invoked most famously regarding steel imports) say that it is illegal for a foreign company to sell a product in the US at less than its manufacturing cost. The idea is to protect US companies from unfair competition.

Of course, we know that Sony is doing this because they expect to make any losses back on selling games and accessories (Gillette's famous business model: "Give away the razors, sell the blades"), but isn't this a case where the DoJ should (based on the logic of the law) file an anti-dumping suit to protect Sony's poor, disadvantaged US competitor -- Microsoft?

PS: Actually, I have great doubts about the wisdom of anti-dumping laws, but the irony of DoJ protecting Microsoft from "unfair competition" is delicious.

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