Last night, Sony (more out of nessecity than anything else) were the first company this generation to announce a price reduction reduction for their console when they announce a price drop for the PS3, but industry analysts predict that Microsoft may not be too far behind with a price-drop for the 360.

Industry analysts today sent out investor notes with their predictions for the show, and each approached the idea that Microsoft would bring fforward the news of a cut to the retail pricce of the Xbox 360, most likely as a direct countermeasure to Sony's PS3 price cut.

Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian, Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter, Oppenheimer's Shawn Milne, and Nollenberger Capital Partners' Todd Greenwald were the analysts that brought forward the idea, each with varied different ideas of how Microsoft would approach the idea.

"On balance, we think that the lower $499 price point for the PS3 60GB model offers consumers a compelling value compared to the current $479 price point for the Xbox 360 Elite model," Pachter wrote. "While the Elite has a 120GB hard drive and HDMI cables, it does not have WiFi built in nor does it offer Blu-ray playback capability, with both standard features for the PS3. Similarly, we think that the $499 PS3 compares quite favorably with the $399 Pro 360 model, which has only a 20GB hard drive and no HDMI output. Because of this favorable comparison, we believe that Microsoft is all but compelled to cut prices, and we think the price cuts will come no later than at Microsoft's Tuesday night press conference."

Sebastian and Milne were not expecting such immediate action on Microsoft's part, but they do believe that a price cut for the 360 will come soon. and will be a decent if not substantial price drop, though it should be noted this would cut into Microsoft's regularly expressed enthusiasm that the Xbox 360 becoming profitable in 2008.

If it happens, the E3 Gurus will let you know!

Tags : E3 2007 : microsoft : price cut : Xbox 360