HDBeat is reporting that the PS3 will be selling for around $600:

That's what a few French websites are reporting, apparently stated by Sony Europe boss George Fornay in a radio interview. That would convert to roughly $613 American dollars and make the PS3 the most expensive videogame console out by quite a bit. He apparently confirmed that the Playstation was delayed to work out Blu-ray copy protection issues (that we still haven't seen a final design for the controller, system or a finished game does not appear to have been a contributing factor), and that it should launch in the range of 499 to 599 euros. He justified the high price by saying it was cheap for a platform capable of reading Blu-ray discs.

That will be interesting to watch. For one thing, they'll be losing $200 to $300 on each console sale - and that's way more than Microsoft is losing per console (never mind that Nintendo is in the black on per console sales). Additionally, $600 gets above the level of "easy disposable" income spending - it gets into the "we'll have to talk about it" level of spending for families.

Take the GameCube, for instance - it started at $150, and now goes for $99. At either level, there are a lot of middle income people willing to buy on impulse at that level. At $600? That goes beyond impulse for most middle income folks, IMHO. It's going to be a tough launch, IMHO.