Pioneer exec expects 4 to 7 million PS3s by end of '06

Andy Parsons, senior vice president of Pioneer Electronics, has told the media that he expects between four and seven million units of the PlayStation 3 to ship worldwide by the end of 2006, representing an "explosion" for Blu-Ray players.

Speaking to video technology website The Digital Bits, Parsons said that the PS3 - which is set to launch later this year - "is going to represent an almost overnight population explosion of Blu-Ray capable players."

"That's not something that's really happened before," he commented. "The PlayStation 2 helped, because that came well down the road after DVD launched, but it did help to get a lot of players out there. But this is something new - the PS3 is launching right at the forefront of Blu-Ray Disc."

The PlayStation 3, which will be the only next-generation console to incorporate a next-generation DVD player, is expected to launch in Japan by summer, with US and European launches to follow before Christmas - although some analysts believe that the European date could be pushed out to March 2007.

"If Sony ships the kind of numbers we expect them to this year, that will provide a very rapid growth of players out there hungry for titles," Parsons continued. "We've been hearing between 4 and 7 million units could ship."

Parsons' comments come in the wake of projections earlier this week from Pacific Crest Securities analyst Even Wilson, who predicted a Japanese launch in summer, followed by November in the United States and March in Europe - with just a million units available for launch in each territory.

That outlook is far more pessimistic than Parsons', and suggests that less than three million units of the PS3 could ship worldwide by the end of 2006. However, publisher sources have indicated in recent weeks that they believe the PS3 will launch in Europe before the end of the year, suggesting that Parsons' figures could be the more accurate of the two.