JULY 5, 2007 • According to the GfK Group, the PlayStation 3 took 13 weeks to attain sales of 50,000 units in Australia since its March 23 launch. The research firm said it took three weeks for the Wii to reach the same mark, and six weeks for the Xbox 360.

Impact: Of course, Australia is considered part of Asia, but its game purchasing habits more closely parallel Europe and North America.  Australia only has 21 million people, but DFC Intelligence forecasts that the game market inAustraliawill pass the $1 billion mark in 2007.  This puts per capita spending on par with the U.S.  Sony’s real strength with the early PlayStation systems was dominating the many small, but lucrative, markets around the world.  Thus, a slow start for the PS3 relative to the competition does not bode well.