The PlayStation 3 was supposed to be out last March, six months ago, not next March, so it's already six months late. In the UK and the rest of Europe, the PS3 will now be two Christmases behind the Xbox 360.
Sony will also have failed in its attempt to copy Microsoft and pull off a global launch for the PS3. However, it is now dangling the carrot marked "only another six months to wait" in front of UK users for a third time, and this may annoy a few.
Of course, component shortages are always a risk when you're making items by the million, and Microsoft had problems with the Xbox 360. Sony could afford to be pretty smug about this after its many decades as a global consumer electronics manufacturer. Sony invented things and Sony manufactured things and Sony controlled its own destiny, it wasn't just some newbie software house in Seattle.
But if Sony can't get enough Sony Blu-ray drives and Sony Cell processors to ship Sony PlayStation 3 consoles, who is it going to blame?
(Charles Arthur writes: just to remind you of Jack's foresight on this, reread the August 3 cover from Technology: Is Sony fighting a losing battle? I think you'd now have to answer "yes".)
