The argument that Nintendo will have a monopoly if the Vita were to die doesn't make sense.

[Zero999]

sethnintendo said:

Vita isn't going to die. It just isn't going to reach PSP levels of sales. Can the Vita run emulators like the PSP? That was a decent selling point for the PSP.

Nintendo owns hand helds. Many have tried and many have failed to compete with Nintendo in hand helds. I'd say Sony put up the best competition with the PSP and it sold really well with Europe sales still continuing decently. Game Gear was the next closest competition Nintendo had during hand helds and they put Sega to shame in sales. I had a Game Gear (it rocked while keeping it plugged in or using rechargeable batteries) but it could never reach Nintendo sales for hand helds. 

Anyways, Sony isn't selling the system for a loss to my knowledge and they are definetely making money off of memory cards.  So if they are making money but only selling 20-50k a week for most of the year..  Who cares?  If they are making money they will continue to sell it till the markets completely sinks/retailers pull back all or almost all shelf space).  At least they are making money off it and not losing millions/billions like their TV business has been doing for nearly a decade.

they need much more money than they're getting now in order to pat R&D costs for vita.