I couldn't disagree more with you if I tried, to be honest. I'm not even going to go into discussion with you on this right now though - the price of the device was just lowered, and the redesign currently only announced for Japan.
I asked here about a price cut cause just after their event I could not find info on the matter. I've been told there was none. If there is a price cut coming it is a step in the right direction, still in my opinion they are moving too slow.
We have no idea if the redesign allows them to lower the price further at this point. We do know that a VitaTV device is possible at $99, probably, so that does give an indication of where things could go, but that's just about all. And I woud be pretty sure that Sony knew in advance that phones would 'pass' it two or so years out. They went with comparatively off-the-shelves part this time, and I'm amused to think that you feel the parts weren't 'off-the-shelves' enough.
There is no new silicon that for sure. It is know that they tweaked slightly both the CPU and GPU which prevent them to jump aggressively on a new node using ready to integrate IP. I'm not sure about how the SOC is put together and how it connects to 2 pools of memory but it could impact price too.
Overall I don't get either how you can disagree, I could agree that there are good games and more good games coming, that the device feels really high end, that the screen is great (and the new one doesn't look bad either, far from that). It pushes really good graphics at launch and devs targeting only a given piece of silicon makes up for its lacking vs more up to date tech.
But I don't see how what the tech did for the system (and I mean tweaked, CPU and GPU, 2 pool of ram), a proper SoC with UMA and sane RAM would have crushed the 3ds anyway. Now it is obvious that something is holding their ability to jump to the 28nm node. May the system have found its audience they would have not been under pressure to shrink (and lower the price or increase their margins) but it is not doing well.
How many people do you know that are not buying a Vita now, that would have bought it at $50 less? I mean, there are always people who will at some point see their price-want threshold crossed, but not many people have a Vita even on their radar. Those that do, would need certain games more than anything else.
I know none, all the owners of the psp I know were mostly pirating games, and bought the system for its amazing media capabilities. I think that at this point they would not even consider the PSV they would buy a tablet (ipad, nexus, etc.) in that price range. It simply does so much more "overall". Now I think that is a pretty good representation of the market outside of Japan (where handheld have still a lot more traction than in the other regions of the world), so there is no easy road to success on that segment at a time when costumer habits are evolving significantly.
My pov is Sony should have save money on silicon and put more money on the software (OS), and aim at lower price.
Now you pov may be is that Sony successfully aimed at tiny niche, I would only partly agree as they might have reached it but I don't think that they are making money now and should do something close of "epsilon" throughout the lifespam of the product.