Look at this way, by the time the PSP will have 500k units the DS will have around 2.8M. By the time the PSP will have a million, the DS should be in the neighborhood of 5M (assume PSP sells 1M by March 2005 by which the DS will have 5M). This is the strongest launch for Nintendo of any console or handheld AFAIK. It seems to me that the DS is clearly on the path of being the GBA replacement, which if that is the case will mean that they'll sell a gazillion DSes, especially if they make a price cut to $100 sometimes next year. If that is the case then I predict that:
end of 2005:
DS: 10-15 million
PSP: 3-5 million
end of 2006:
DS: 35-45 million
PSP: 10-15 million
end of 2007:
DS: 65-75 million
PSP: 20-25 million
These sales numbers are vaguely in line with the GBA/GBASP for the DS, which would in fact be somewhat conservative seeing how the DS launch is better than the GBA launch. I'm just guessing for the PSP though. After that, around the 2007-2008 timeframe, DS2/GBA2 comes out killing any long term chance for the PSP to take off.
So judging by it's strong launch, ability to replace the GBA with its backwards compatibility, and strong Nintendo dominance in the handheld market I claim that the DS has already won. Any opinions?
end of 2005:
DS: 10-15 million
PSP: 3-5 million
end of 2006:
DS: 35-45 million
PSP: 10-15 million
end of 2007:
DS: 65-75 million
PSP: 20-25 million
These sales numbers are vaguely in line with the GBA/GBASP for the DS, which would in fact be somewhat conservative seeing how the DS launch is better than the GBA launch. I'm just guessing for the PSP though. After that, around the 2007-2008 timeframe, DS2/GBA2 comes out killing any long term chance for the PSP to take off.
So judging by it's strong launch, ability to replace the GBA with its backwards compatibility, and strong Nintendo dominance in the handheld market I claim that the DS has already won. Any opinions?