So, given these trends, how does OP fall into them?

Do you see the vita continuing its current trend, is it a black friday thing, a holidays thing?

What are the expectations, and is the price leading to meet those expectations? The system could easily hold out if the expectations are low. So what is considered good, what is considered on target to judge the status "it held out"?

Those are the questions we should be asking.

Basil, anyone who bought a console at a given price deemed the console worthy of that price. Of course they would buy it cheaper too, but anyone who paid 250$ for the 3DS should be moronic to complain after a pricecut. Yes, it sucks, but the pricedrop has nothing to do with their purchase, it's a business decision based on business goals set by Nintendo. As such, if Nintendo had the same goals as Sony, maybe there wouldn't have been an Ambassador program and the 3DS would still be at the same price.

Maybe this isn't even Sony's  goal, and they just can't afford a price-cut at this point since the Vita I believe is already sold at a loss and now is a terrible time for Sony to play loss-leader.

Not sure if your sarcastic remark is trolling, or act of just increasing your post count.

The Ambassador program was a non-mandatory "thank you" to those who bought the system at a higher price. I people bought it at that price, they deemed the system worthy of that price. Well, consumers vote with their pockets so not everyone agreed.

If they wanted to do that, they would need a very solid launch, much closer to the U's launch than to the 3DS', in terms of launch window software.

If you want a console selling at a high price, it can't have no games early on like the 3DS did. Even the vita was limited in software, but at least it had Uncharted.

its funny that when comparing vita sales to 3ds sales, nintendo fans are much quicker to say 3ds sales were horrible. it wasnt long ago when they were sayong the same thing i am "it's not that bad relatively to something else". perspective seems to be an easily lost quality over time. for reference, i was one saying 3ds sales weren't so bad given the circumstances.
look this isn't a celebration but an analysis.

i asked myself "it would be bad for sony to drop price before it sales-wise matched the 3ds. so i looked it up and it already met it.
coupled with the non-coincidental matching of 3ds price drop on amazon sale (very similar a"ambassador" program with "instant collection") shows that sony is likely lookingbat the same conclusions im drawing, and that pricedrop was a testing phase. 199 seems like the most intuitive pricing in the upcoming spring with matching software releases.

how? I don't follow how the vita met the 3DS. What is your benchmark?

Also, there is no taking sides or trend here, I as a Nintendo  fan am just trying to make sense out of your OP. Since you're honest to find answers, there is no need to play the intent game (which is a bore btw).

Its sad to hear people saying the PS vita could be saved by having connectivity to ps3/ps4. Isn't it suppose to be its own system? 3DS doesn't need that help.

Sony's strategy is to make people see the value in the Vita. They are trying to convince people it is worth the $250.

Nintendo is the completely opposite. Consumers don't think 3DS is worth $250......agree with them and drop the price. That's devaluing your own products.

Apple gets away with selling millions and millions $600 iPads EVERY YEAR. Think about that.

It's not that they deemed the 3DS worth of the $250 price tag, they just didn't expect it to drop so quickly.
This is why people need to do their research and why tech specs do matter. Anyone who knew anything about  tech specs would tell you that $250 was way too much for a 3DS at the time. The $250 Vita announcement at E3 should have been proof enough.

So long story short, those people are lucky there was an ambassador program at all...

I love it when people compare the sales of iphones or ipads to consoles.

Also, if Sony had breathing room to drop the Vita's price, they would do so in a heartbeat. Don't fool yourself.