@z64dan & Magera,
The comparisons are more valid than you think. The real important factors in price cuts are "Can we sell more units while making more $ at a lower price point?" and Component costs.
Looking at the two Consoles the closest console design to the PS2 is the PS3. The only difference is that the PS3's abnormal architecture is an extension of the PS2's abnormal architecture. As a result we can expect component costs to go down at similar rates.
Now on the second point, if you will notice I based my estimate entirely on the final price cut for the specific reason that the early portions of each console life aren't comparable due to high sellthroughs on the PS2. However the the last two price cuts the PS2 recieved were a direct result of reducing production costs which means it had come back in line with that model making it a valid comparison point.
In effect, the similarities in architecture mean its production costs will drop similarly with respect to time, and by looking only at the most recent price cuts we are looking at the length of time it took for the production costs of the PS2 to be lowered. So what we really have is the information that over the course of the PS2s life it took 62 months to reduce production costs enough to warrant $170 worth of price cuts. Because I am only looking at the end total where the model has come back in line the comparison works fine.
If anything a very good case could be made for my estimate being on the low side considering the PS3 was being sold for a loss initially. But more than that the PS2s high sales also provide incentive for sony to find a way to lower their costs so they are making more money per unit they are selling and providing them the future price cut options. So really if anything my estimate is a low one.
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