I remember when they announced the first PlayStation right after Sega announced the Saturn was going to be $500 and the Sony dude just came out and said "299" and then bounced.
It's also worth noting that the launch PS3 also had a whole PS2 inside of it, which partially explains the inflated price point. I say partially since I'm prrety sure that a PS2 slim cost a lot less than $330 in 2006 dollars; they could have just bundled both consoles or offered a rebate on a PS2 purchase and called it a day.
I bought one of those 60GB original PS3s back in 06. That was also the last game console I purchased for myself. Made the switch to PC not long after that.