Last week came news that Sony had dropped the price of the 20GB HD PlayStation 3 model to 49,980 yen ($429 USD), a drop of about 10,000 yen ($85). This led to speculation that a similar price cut would be announced for North America. Unfortunately, Sony has announced that it does not currently plan on reducing PS3 prices in North America. The 20GB model will sell for $499 USD and the 60GB model will sell for $599 USD.
The only consolation for North America is that Sony has confirmed that the 20GB PS3 model will ship with an HDMI port.