Sony sited a “duty to shareholders,” and “having a business to run,” as reasons why it is not heeding calls to slash the price of the PlayStation 3 for this holiday season. While sources continue to tell us that Sony had intended to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 this holiday season, Sony is now publicly saying that no price cut on the PS3 was planned.

Sony is now also claiming that the price of the console will not be an issue with buyers this holiday season. While reports do seem to differ as to the accuracy of Sony’s statement on the price cuts and their effect on sales heading into this holiday season.

Some reports continue to suggest that the sales of the Xbox 360 continue to climb since Microsoft slashed its prices, but it seems that as usual Microsoft sales of the Xbox 360 continue to be stronger in North America. Microsoft has enjoyed some recent success in Japan, which has been a tough market for Microsoft in the past.

Sony, on the other hand, seems to be stronger on a worldwide level, as some reports suggest that they sold slightly more units this quarter than Microsoft with both companies’ totals for this quarter over two million, but under two and half million consoles sold, depending on whose numbers you believe. In overall sales, Microsoft still enjoys a comfortable lead with over 24 million consoles sold, with Sony only able to move almost 17 million PS3 consoles.

Many of our sources are whispering that Sony lost a lot of money up front during the initial launch of the PlayStation 3 and continues to have problems getting its hardware costs down. While the Blu-ray drive used in the PS3 in the past has been the biggest issue with the high price of the console, now other costs associated with the console are making it hard for Sony to drop the price lower.

It could be that Sony’s most recent excuses are nothing more than a smoke screen to hide the fact that they need more time to re-work the console into another more low-cost version. Several of our sources are saying we will see a new revision of the PS3 at CES in January.