While I think the PS4 will suffer for it short-term, I think it was a wise move in the long run. Allows for stock in highly competitive regions and the units they would have poached from Wii U isn't significant in the long run.
Edit: I can't beleive anyone would have explain this point, but the reason why Sony can launch in Brazil and South Africa, but not Japan is because Japan requires about 10x the stock launch week.