Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the biggest maker of video-game players, may lower the U.S. price of the newest PlayStation 3 console once supplies of an older model are sold, an analyst said.

Sony will stop selling PlayStation 3s equipped with a 60- gigabyte hard drive in the U.S. once the inventory is gone, Kimberly Otzman, a spokeswoman for Tokyo-based Sony's U.S. games business, said in an e-mail today.

That probably will lead to a cut in the price of the $599 model that comes with an 80-gigabyte drive, said Edward Woo, a Los Angeles-based analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. Sales increased in July after the company introduced the new model and dropped the cost of the older model to $499 from $599.

``That's what everybody's expecting,'' Woo said in an interview. ``That would be a surprise if they don't.''

Supplies of the 60-gigabyte model probably will last through October, Otzman said. The company had no comment on the possibility of further price reductions, she said.

Sony is trying to increase sales of the PlayStation 3, which has trailed Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 since the console was introduced in November. After the last price cut, U.S. PlayStation 3 sales increased 38 percent in July to 159,000, according to market researcher NPD Group Inc. Sales of Wii totaled 425,000 units and Xbox 360 tallied 170,000.

This month, Microsoft cut the price of the Xbox 360 by $50 to $349.99. Wii sells for $249.99.

Sony fell 20 cents to $45.91 at 4:02 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have gained 7.2 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 30, 2007 16:18 EDT