PS3: Lessons learned on hardware $?

After reading this article, I realized that I have not used the card readers or the PS2 BC. I haven't even come close to using 60GB either.

Looking back, Sony would have been better off with a single model with no BC, no card reader, a 20GB HDD, and 4 USB ports. An IR sensor wouldn't have hurt either!

I think they would have gotten away with no BC. In the end, it wasn't included anyway, but they still sell PS2's. Microsoft stopped worrying about BC a long time ago, but they don't sell Xboxes anymore. Doesn't that technically put Sony ahead in terms of "access to the old"? Keep in mind they are also doing HD upgrades on some of the more popular games.

On a smaller issue, they really shouldn't have restricted games to Blu-ray discs. DVD9 is cheaper and would work for a lot of games. I imagine the read speed on the DVD portion of the drive is faster as well, but I could be wrong. If I'm right, it could have erased the bad press on "installations" in the beginning and possibly saved Developers from headache improving their initial opinions of the system.

The extra flair just hurt them financially in the beginning. It seemed like they spent too much trying to over-compete with the Xbox.