After looking at the way the 40GB and 80GB were hurried out the door by Sony, I think it was always in Sony's plan to come out with a full BC. In fact, I don't think they ever planned to be lacking it. Since they were under so much pressure to come in at a lower price point they had to release cheaper hardware even though the full software BC wasn't finished. What console maker in their right mind wants to come out with a version of their console with less features and cut the versions with more features so shortly after launch?
My guess is that the 40/80GB were meant to launch during the '08 holiday season and that software BC was to come out at the same time. The motherboard for the 40GB version might have been intended to be the new motherboard for all the PS3 versions. In that game plan, there would have been little to no drop in support for PS2 titles as well as a cost drop.
I give this thread a 9.6.
Thank god for the disable signatures option.
