Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi finally gave some official details about the PS3 at the PlayStation Business Briefing 2006 in Japan.
He confirmed that the PlayStation3 is delayed because the copy protection isn't ready with Blu-ray, but we'll get a worldwide launch in North America, Asia and Europe early (atleast for Japan within first 10 days of) November 2006.
They will produce the PS3 at a rate of 1 million units per month and should have 6 million units released by the end of march 2007.
The final PS3 development kits will be shipping to developers in June 2006.
To prevent piracy all PS3 games will come out on Blu-Ray discs only, not on CD/DVD. The console will of course be able to read PS1 CDs, PS2 DVDs and DVD movies.
Sony also announced that the PlayStation 3 will be 100% backwards compatible with PS1 and PS2 games, and all titles played on the system will be displayed at high-definition resolutions.
The PS3 will require a, completely upgradeable, hard drive. Publishers have been told to develop titles with the assumption that the console will have a HD. Kutaragi also said the 60GB HD will support Linux OS and will act as a home server where users can store their media on.
The PS3 will include a built-in Wi-Fi connection that can serve as a wireless access point for the PSP.
Sony also unveiled some details of their online plans ('PlayStation Network Platform'). At launch the console will get community tools (lobby matching and voice chat) and commerce features (like in-game shopping and game downloads to the hard drive). The "basic" service will be free of charge.
No new software announcements or pricing details were made, maybe something for the GDC next week?