I've just stumbled upon an interesting headline over at pcadvisor.co.uk saying that Sony has run out of the 60GB model of the PlayStation 3. Apparently, Sony's online store shows zero machines available for purchase, thus retail units are now the only ones that may carry the discontinued SKU. The company's official word is posted below.

"The online site has exhausted its inventory of the 60GB," a Sony representative told PC Advisor's US-based sister title GamePro. "They still have inventory available in-store, however, and other larger retailers and their web operations still have ample supply."

The same source also says that the representative failed to confirm whether the 60GB SKU inventory is still present in warehouses. The closest Sony could get to the answer was saying that "ample supply still exists at retail." SonyStyle.com has 'Back Order' stamped on the 60GB PS3.

If you haven't been reading the news lately (or paying attention to what the subtitle reads), Sony cut the PS3's price by $100 (£50) back in July. Mere days after the announcement was made, the electronics giant discontinued the production of 60GB PS3s. Again, Sony's official word, below:

"The 60GB PS3 will be available in North America for $499 (£250) until supplies of that unit are depleted," the company behind the PlayStation brand confirmed at that time. "We have ample inventory to meet the immediate needs of consumers in this territory for several months to come. We won't be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated."

Well, given that GameStop officials revealed doubled sales figures for PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP just last week, we can all understand why Sony's online store doesn't list anymore 60GB PS3s. Really, there's no doubt that Sony is going to make an announcement soon.