Wow, how utterly pointless and tiresome most of that was. I guess all the players had best leave the market, because if you take #1-4 at face value THEY CAN'T MAKE MONEY! (oh noes!) It costs money to design a console!
Sony spent money shrinking EE and GS every step of the way, but why did they do it? To save production cost! (shocker, that) And they kept right on doing it, the fools! What everyone has been talking about
is manufacturing cost comparison, so how do those points apply? Investments need to be recouped, certainly, but they have to be for a console regardless--and yet even when they spend whoreloads on design, they've made it back. It's not like a redesign is severely taxing--or do you think the PSOne flummoxed them to no end and was being subsidized by Sony to please consumers with its rounded corners?
#5 and 6 are at least closer to the point, but those are initial costs--quickly overcome if the manufacturing savings is good enough.
#7 and 8 finally have to do
with what people are talking about, but actual figures/backup for #7 would be nice, and #8 may not make all that much difference chip-wise but will certainly lead to an increase in sales of network-capable games down the line, so it has its own extra return that I'm sure Sony is estimating alongside.
What are the comparitive manufacturing costs of the motherboards? Of the chips it holds? Of the internal components? Of the casing? Of the cost of boxing and shipping the product?
If your point is that the relative cost of the PSTwo looks bad in comparison to the PS2 right now because of the build-up, well then "duh." But Sony is likely expecting to sell 50+ million of these through the rest of its lifespan, and aiming it to survive all the further price drops to $129 and $99 and below. Just what do you think[ they had in mind from a manufacturing standpoint?
That is where the telling point lies.