Yesterday Japanese gadget exporter Audio Cubes listed the 20GB Sony PS3 basic model for pre-order. Faster than expected they have listed now the Premium Sony PS3 with 60GB and HDMI for pre-order to be shipped international.

The whole sale price for the 60GB Sony PS3 is not set by Sony in Japan. So the distributors make their own price. That leads to Audio Cubes offering the 60GB Sony PS3 for the rather high price of $999.
The price also factors in some of the excess shipping cost for the PS3. The pricing for the 60GB PS3 in Europe would be 599 Euro (~$761). So we look at a premium of about $240 you have to pay extra to get your hands on a PS3 early in Europe.

So this is it. If you live outside of the United States or Japan, the only way to get a PS3 this winter is to import. The 60GB Sony PS3 features the HDMI interface, which I consider as important. The Japanese Sony PS3 shares the region-code with the US Sony PS3 release. So if you live in Europe you need to import US or Japan Blu-ray movies. Audio Cubes ships the Sony PS3 consoles starting November 11th when it launches in Japan.
There is a limit of 2 orders per person. Audio Cubes throws in a free voltage converting transformer.
More details on Audio Cubes.