Selling Sony's PS3 is "illegal in Argentina"
Selling Sony's PS3 is "illegal in Argentina"
Said Sony, as Carrefour hides behind big rock
Lisa, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!" -Homer Simpson
IMAGINE OUR surprise when we contacted a Sony Argentina representative to INQuire how the PS3 console was doing down in the land of Tango, asado and gauchos, and we were told that selling the PS3 is "illegal".
After seeing full-page ads in the local papers for the PS3 - totally overpriced as usual at two thousand greenbacks, - yes you read that right, around $1700 and $2000 packaged with an extra controller and a game. I decided to ask Sony if those units advertised in the paper were US units imported by Sony's Argentina branch or if perhaps those were Euroland PAL units somehow converted to the local PAL/N flavour/oddity.
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Carrefour's full-page PS3 ads in the paper
Although the PAL sub-formats are only of interest for Standard-definition (SDTV)outputs and while almost all 1080i component video inputs in HDTV CRTs are either PAL-B or NTSC, I wanted to know, so I asked. The reply came from Federico Augspach, Sony Argentina's marketing manager, who used to be in charge of "Sony SCE" marketing and now is apparently in charge of the firm's TV segment as well.
Augspach said that Sony is not importing the PS3 console into the country, and that selling it in the country is "illegal". He said that in order to sell the console, the Japanese giant must certify it for compliance with the local RF spectrum regulations, that is, the frequencies watchdog agency, or FCC wannabe, the CNC. He said a couple of weeks ago that the firm had not initiated the certification for the device's Bluetooth capability at the time, and that "until that certification" and approval - also known as rubber stamp - ;) does not exist, that it's not legal to sell the PS3 console
He concluded by saying that Sony Argentina "is warning the main dealers" that they should "abstain" from importing it. Pressed further about his opinion then on the newspaper ads for the console he only said "I have no idea, our recommendation was not to sell it".
Rip-off Britain? You haven't seen Carrefour's PS3 price down under
A note about French supermarket giant Carrefour -which is one of the heavyweight box movers down here, along with famous U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart-: even taking into account the local import duties plus 21% VAT on top of it all. While I'm no expert on the field, I can hardly imagine how the firm's price could -even in the worst case scenario- exceed $800 to $900 greenbacks -given a $499 USD price base price- and that is including 21% VAT, duties and shipping the consoles one by one.
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The PS3, despite Sony's "illegal" claim, today at Carrefour's site
Yet, Carrrefour's pricing for the PS3 is beyond intriguing, to say the least. Not to mention the fact that the firm's web site continues showing the console while Sony's Argentina branch said two weeks ago that selling it was "illegal". Perhaps the supermarket price includes an attorney's fee for some legal defence fund?? ;). The whole affair is a bit ludicrous, I confess.
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The PS3, around $700 cheaper on auction sites compared to Supermarket giant's price
If both are not approved by Sony's local branch, what's the price difference for?
Conclusion. PS3 is a magnet for negative headlines
Believe me, I'm not much of a gamer, but of all the latest consoles I'd buy a PS3 -to use as an inexpensive BluRay movies player- and a Wii for real fun, "oldskool" games where 3D surfaces and textures are not as important as gameplay. So, I clearly have no anti-Sony agenda, I say that as a pre-emptive measure, before the chorus of parrots and PS3 fanboys hits the "flame author" link.
Yet, think about it, isn't it quite ironic that even a hack without any particular axe to grind against Sony's console, ends up writing a negative headline about it?. It must be cursed, this PS3 thing, as it seems to be a magnet for trouble. In that sense Sony's engineering has been wonderful... it designed the ultimate magnet.
Sony's local branch has this humble correspondent's e-mail address, so I suspect they will let us know when this PS3 ordeal comes to an end and people can buy the console with a proper local warranty and the whole shebang.
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