Totally disagree with the OP. Reasons:
Blu-ray: the OP mentions that Blu-ray was a weakness for the PS3, driving up the costs and whatnot. I totally agree with that, but the OP is overlooking the fact that a blu-ray drive will be a significantly cheaper by 2013 than it is now or especially when the PS3 first came out. So, this won't be as much of a weakness. Actually, the 720 will probably have a Blu-ray drive, so it would have the same weakness, to doubly invalidate the reasoning given.
The PS4 is going to have the following advantages assuming that it does come out:
BC- The PS3 didnt have backward compatibility but the PS4 will, giving consumers more options to buy games which will increase SW revenue to some degree. This will be an advantage that the PS3 did NOT have.
Royalties: Sony will get royalties from MS if the 720 does have a Blu-ray drive, because the games would probably be Bluray based. Still, Sony won't get a whole lot, the last i've seen is that Sony would be getting 9 cents per title sold, still it definitely will help. This will be an advantage that the PS3 did NOT have.
Development: The Ps4 will probably have a CPU based on the Cell, which has been broadly agreed up though not certain I will admit. If so, then that is great for developers as they will have the expertise already in place to make games without the hassle that they had for the PS3 generation. This is an advantage (over the PS3) that the PS3 did NOT have.
Online parity with Microsoft- lately sony has improved the PSN by a lot and while they have a bit more to go, things are looking almost equal by now. Sony continues to improve things and make the whole online thing another source of revenue. Going into the PS4 era, Sony will have to offer applications that will fit the PS4, but in doing so, it won't have to build from the ground up. This will be an advantage (over the PS3) that the PS3 did NOT have.
If the PS4 would have corrected its weaknesses, and have the 720 adopt more expensive BD drive, why would the PS4 be so disadvantaged going into the next gen? Brilliant.
