Gamespot has a long interview with Kaz Hirai, Sony's Computer Entertainment American President about the Sony PS3 and Sony PSP.

Specifically the interview focuses on the recent Yankee Group report that the Sony Playstation 3 will be market leader in 2011.

What I find most interesting is that Mr. Hirai tries to generate a notion that there could be a Sony PS3 shortage between launch day and year end. 2 Million PS3 units are going to be made available. Mr. Kazai says production did not start yet (Digitimes reported in July, that PS3 production had started…). As it is a global launch about 700,000 will be available in the US, Asia and Europe. US and Japan will get possibly more, leaving less for Europe.

Of course it is smart marketing for Sony to make the Sony PS3 a scarce item. They need to find a balance between the too big shortage of the Xbox 360 last year and a healthy shortage that is not frustrating consumers.
It will be hard for Sony to generate a real shortage that is driven by demand, due to the high price of the console and the Nintendo Wii launch.
In any case I already pre-ordered my Sony PS3 in Germany. As apparently Europe will see the lowest allocation of Sony Playstation 3 consoles at launch.
In June Mr. Hirai talked about the Sony PS3 pricing.

For all Sony PS3 details read our comprehensive PS3 report.