Sir Howard Stringer is doing a star turn as chief salesman for Sony (NYSE: SNE). One of his top messages: Playstation 3, which was “sort of on life support before” is doing very well now. One reason:  “It has a life beyond that of the video game.” The PS3 is a server, the Playstation Network is coming (no mention or prodding on the delays) and it already has 5 million subs, the next game that comes out will use “all of the available bandwidth.” More important, the PS3’s status as Blu-Ray player.

Later he said the network will be a test of the ability to break down silos and to create application software.

Blu-Ray: Stringer dismissed the idea that Sony paid its way to dominance over the Microsoft-Toshiba HD-DVD. “We didn’t write the big checks.” But it did cost Sony to subsidize prices on the players to meet the competitor’s dropping prices. “We lost money on the player as we drove the price down.”

Stringer on Bezos: “I thought, by the way, he was very unfair on the horse. I have a horse. I’m going to be able to ride that horse to go down and get my next bag of books.” (His sales skills are not much in evidence when it comes to the Sony Reader.)

More to come.