TOKYO - Sony today announced that it is on track to sell its five millionth PLAYSTATION3 before the end of September, and to make the PS3 affordable for even more customers this holiday season, it is lowering the price of the most popular PS3 model with 60GB of storage from $599 to just $399.

"The surveys are in and PS3 customer satisfaction scores are higher than we've ever seen for any Sony product," said Kazuo Kirai, Sony Computer Entertainment's CEO. "We've clearly got a breakthrough product and we want to make it affordable for even more customers as we enter this holiday season."

The 60GB PLAYSTATION3 is available immediately for $399 in the US through all retail and online stores. The PS3 20GB model will be sold while supplies last.

In case you haven't figured it out, I just took Apple's iPhone price drop press release from earlier in the week and did some Mad Libbing.

And is it that crazy? Sony, like Apple, walked into their new, untested product with a ton of fan excitement and name brand recognition. In both cases even the most hardcore was surprised by the price. Both launches had staggering lines of people willing to pay it anyway.

The key difference is that Sony spent the months leading up to the PS3 release telling us how we should all get a second job to pay for it, that we'd buy it even if it had no games at all, and outright lied about what preview video was in-game.

I don't think anybody (outside the company) knows what the profit margin is per unit. It was heavily rumored that the $600 iPhone was massive profit for Apple, and now the $400 iPhone is costing them that money cushion. (Apple stock took a hit this week based on that speculation.) The launch spin on the PS3 was that $600 was too-cheap-for-components, the blu-ray alone was worth at least twice that, and that Sony was taking a bath on every unit sold, which does explain why they have been reluctant to bring the price down to human levels and their desperation to justify the price tag.

I contend that if Sony had not acted like dicks for an entire year, they could have sold out of those $600 PS3s. Like the iPhone, we would have bought big based on company trust. We all loved the PS2 and we were ready to love the PS3... until she turned around and spit venom in our faces.

And then, after a few months of selling all they can ship (you know, like the Wii), Sony quietly fills a few warehouses full of surplus stock and then announces a $200 price drop well ahead of the holiday season. The new $400 60gig model hits the streets and Sony expects to triple their install base... and the price is still $100 more than a launch day PS2.

Now imagine the fan backlash... the people who swallowed the $600 tag are ticked. They're no longer special. Any jerk with only $400 can pick up a PS3. What if Sony responded with this:

To all PLAYSTATION3 customers:

I have received hundreds of emails from PLAYSTATION3 customers who are upset about Sony dropping the price of PS3 by $200 a few months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.

First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 60GB PS3 from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. PLAYSTATION3 is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. PS3 is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Sony and every PS3 user to get as many new customers as possible in the PLAYSTATION3 'tent'. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.

Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Sony tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of the PS3, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early PS3 customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every customer who purchased a PLAYSTATION3, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a retail voucher towards the purchase of any PS3 game software at $60 or less.

We want to do the right thing for our valued PLAYSTATION3 customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Sony.

Kazuo Kirai, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO

That is, of course, Steve Jobs's now-famous "apology" for dropping the iPhone price.

And, for anybody who closely follows gaming, it is just NUTS to think of Sony doing the same move.

Why is that?

A free $60 game? We all know what kind of choice you get when Sony does a free giveaway. I'm still waiting for my package, by the way.

A $200 price drop? We have been repeatedly told that Sony has no plans to lower the price. Even the recent $100 drop was just them introducing a new $600 model and bumping the prior one down to the $500 level. Moreover, Sony remains adamant that the PS3 is worth the $600, even as they fall well behind the competition that was barely a gnat on their nose in the previous generation.

Apple and Nintendo are winning because they are humble, because they respect their fans, and because they have great products. Sony and Microsoft are treading water because their corporate attitude is smarmy and arrogant, and because the products either lack interest (no good PS3 games) or are suicidally unreliable (360).