Possibility of Xbox 360 stealing PS2 console market share won't faze Sony; PS3 still not in production?

GameSpot had a chance to speak with Sony Computer Entertainment America president Kaz Hirai with regards to a much-debated analyst report from Yankee Group which predicts PlayStation 3 leadership over the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii for the upcoming North American console market share. To summarize, the Yankee Group report expected the PS3 to snatch 44% of the upcoming console market with sales of 30 million units, while the Xbox 360 would earn 40% and the Wii settling for the final 16%.

Hirai is conviced the PS3 will do much better than anticipated and surpass the prevalent market share possessed by the PS2, even when the Yankee Group's report also claims Microsoft stands to steal almost 16% of market share from Sony through the 360:

Well, the numbers change depending on how you slice and dice the data. What I'm saying is, given any metric [analysts] use to chart sales between 2006 and 2011, or calendar year to date of 2001, whatever you do, when we look back, I'd like to think that our market share will be as good--if not better--than what we've accomplished with the PS2 in the same kind of time frame since launch.

According to Hirai, while large-scale manufacturing and assembly of PS3s have yet to commence at time of writing, the company will be prepared for a PS3 launch this November. The PlayStation Network Platform online gaming service may also be up and running by that time. Unfortunately, Hirai was not very sure of how many launch titles (first or third party) would be ready.