June 12^th, 2006 (1:20pm) - Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi has stated that while the company expects to earn healthy revenues from the sale of downloadable content for the PS3, there will be no charge for basic online services.

In an interview with Japanese site PC Impress Watch, Kutaragi said: "You can’t charge money for network matching and other basic services. These things are just taken for granted on the PC."

"On the PS3, basic services will be taken for granted while content will be the bread and butter of our business."

Kutaragi went on to reaffirm Sony’s commitment to promoting the PS3’s online capabilities, stating: "We really wanted to do this with the PS2. But now Apple has realised a successful e-distribution program, it’s about time we made our move, too."

He also hinted that the console’s online features could allow multiple Cell processors to work together: "Users will be able to connect to Polyphony Digital’s server. So I want it to be a Cell server, with the number of Cells at a thousand to several thousand. This would allow us to maintain an entire cyberworld, as long as our power supply holds up."

According to Kutaragi, the PS3 will make use of network services "from launch day", and consumers will embrace the idea of digitally delivered content within one to two years. Eventually optical drives will be obsolete, he believes - as indeed might hard drives.

"I expect even the hard disk to disappear eventually," Kutaragi said.

"If you have all the data on servers, you probably no longer need disk drives... But to do this, the server is crucial. It’s a difficult problem."