arlier this week, Wedbush Morgan's video-game industry analyst Michael Pachter shared some choice words with GameTrailers regarding the PSPgo's price point.  Pachter suggested that the $249 asking price is far too much, considering manufacturing costs for the PSPgo should technically be cheaper than current PSPs.  He explains that much of the manufacturing cost for standard PSPs comes from the UMD drive, and because the PSPgo uses 16 gigs of flash memory instead, the handheld should be cheaper.  He goes on to say that because of Sony's move to "jack the price up $80," they are effectively "ripping off the consumer."

Now Pachter has officially apologized via IndustryGamers for his rather candid analysis of the PSPgo.  He explains that he chose his words poorly and didn't mean to cast Sony in a malevolent light.

"I made a poor choice of words, and I do not think that Sony is doing anything nefarious in choosing their pricing strategy," Pachter says.  "The company has the right to price its products at a point that they think is competitive, and has no obligation to sell products at lower than a competitive price. They have been subsidizing purchases of the PS3 since launch, to the tune of 22 million sold at a loss of $100 or more apiece (on average), so if they are able to make a profit on the PSPgo, more power to them."

He also goes on to say that while he thinks the PSPgo is a better value than the iPod touch, he doubts that the price point will allow Sony to sell more than a few million units.