For me this can only be an opportunity for Sony and the Vita. The price cut pretty much says it all - the 3DS isn't quite the hit Nintendo (and well, nearly everyone) expected and this seems like a very drastic measure to try and up demand before the holidays (the writing was on the wall with numerous 3DS games cancelled anyway... just not to this extent). To not even keep the original price over one holiday season to me feels very... desperate.
But the reality is, thus far the 3DS just hasn't been a device that people want... what we don't know is whether it's the $249 price tag, lack of software, smart phones eating up the market, people not caring about 3D, ignorance to this being the 'next gen handheld' or something else. To me the device has a GameCube vibe about it at the moment, in that people just don't care about it or want it - in which case this price cut won't do a lot. But it's too early for me to really back that up with any meaningful data - will have to wait and see holiday software / hardware sales.
As for Vita, seeing your competition struggle can typically only be a good thing. It could be yelling out a contraction of the handheld games market, but I don't think that's really where the Vita is aiming at in it's first year or two and shouldn't really concern Sony. It does show the importance of quality software at launch though.
I think it's probably worth remembering the DS wasn't a huge hit at launch and it too the DSlite remodel + quality software to really accelerate that system.
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