PSP Go pricing a ‘rip off’ says analyst

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter claims Sony are “ripping off” consumers with the $249/€249 price point of the PSP Go. Speaking in an episode of Bonus Round recorded following Sony’s conference at E3 last week, Pachter said, “$249 is too much, period.”

The crux of Pachter’s argument is that the PSP Go is cheaper to produce than the UMD toting PSP-3000. “The $169 PSP-3000 is a profitable device,” said Pachter. “They make money, so it costs less than that. The disc assembly for a UMD costs more than 16 gigs of flash does. So this new device doesn’t cost them as much to make as the PSP-3000 and they jack the price up $80… They’re ripping off the consumer… They’re making a lot more money on the PSP Go than they’re making on the PSP-3000.”

The PSP Go hits the US and Europe on Oct. 1, followed a month later in Japan. Will you be picking one up, or are you afraid of getting your fingers burnt?

The Blackberry Curve Outselling The iPhone So Far In 2009

Which phone do you have? The Blackberry or the iPhone?

According to market researchers at the NPD Group, chances are -- if you bought you're phone during the first quarter of 2009 -- you have a Blackberry Curve.

The NPD Group says, in the smart phone game, the Blackberry Curve is outselling the innovative Apple iPhone in sales so far this year, despite the iPhone's innovative design winning over gadgets freaks since its release.

The researchers say that part of the reason RIM (the makers of the Blackberry) is winning the sales war is availability. While the iPhone is exclusive to AT&T, the Curve is available on all four major U.S. wireless carriers.

A buy-one-get-one-free promotion by Verizon Wireless also helped the Curve, according to NPD analyst Ross Rubin.

"Verizon Wireless' aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm, and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base, contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions (in U.S. smartphone sales)," Rubin said in a statement. "The more familiar, and less expensive, Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers."

Exact data was not released to the public, but the reports say the Blackberry Curve the #1 selling smartphone for the first three months of 2009. The iPhone finished second, followed by another Blackberry, the touch-screen Storm.

GADGETS

This is one of those drives that you wouldn’t expect it to be a USB drive concealed within. It looks more like something someone would stash a little Tylenol within. Instead it’s a small USB drive that allows for you to store random files inside. It’d be a humorous keychain for nurses and various medical workers to carry around. Of course it won’t discriminate if you’re not within the medical field, it’ll still safely store your files just the same. Plus it can be attached to your keys as a keychain.