Sony's plan to ship 2m PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide by the end of the year and a further 4m PS3s by the end of March 2007 is still "within our reach", company President Ryoji Chubachi told reporters this week.

Chubachi admitted Sony's efforts had been hindered by the limited availability of the blue lasers used within the console to read Blu-ray Discs and game media, an issue that ensured PS3 mass production didn't begin as a soon as the company had hoped.

Sony announced its intention to ship 6m PS3s by the end of March 2007 - the conclusion of its current financial year - after it said the European PS3 debut would be delayed until that date. With no firm date made public for the European launch beyond a vague 'end of March', it's possible Sony now hopes to include European shipments in its total.

Certainly US shipments may have been scaled back. Sony was reported in September as touting a 400,000-unit allocation for the North American launch, which took place on 17 November. Last week, US retail market watcher NPD said Sony shipped less than half that number - 197,000 units - during November. That apparent shortfall has led some analysts to question Sony's 2m and 6m goals. ®

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