Looking at the weekly sales figures from America, please note that the last figures are after the first full week of the PSP being on sale for $169.

WE 15th April - 71,453 (+32%)

WE 8th April - 53,927 (+10%)

WE 1st April - 49,083 (=)

WE 25th March - 49,259 (=)

WE 18th March - 49,437 (=)

WE 11th March - 49,615 (=)

I know there may be other reasons, but a 32% rise in sales over the space in 1 week means that the lower price of the unit could begin to make a difference. 

You always get a massive spike in sales for the weeks following a price reduction ... we will have to wait until mid June and compare the average weekly sales from May to the average weekly sales in March and see if there is any difference to know whether the price reduction had any impact.

I'm still not clear on this price cut, is it permanent?  I thought I had heard it was just to clear out the core packs to make way for a new pack at the old price.  Something of a spike is to be expected, the GameCube saw a spike when it was lowered from $150 to $100 though it didn't last long.  It's sales in the US haven't been bad and a 32% spike still puts it a good deal below the DS.  The big thing to watch for I think is if the lower prices causes it to start selling games.  That's been the PSP's real weakness.

I believe the price cut is permanent.  It isn't a pack now anyway and wasn't at $199, it was just the "core" system (the pack was the original configuration it was sold in, for $249).  

As for sales, PSP actually has been doing fairly well against DS in the U.S.  Of course, in Japan the DS is annihilating it and in Europe it is also being soundly thrashed.  But in the U.S. it is doing fairly well and moving a good deal of software even without the mega-hit games DS enjoys (other than GTA:LCS...even GTA:VCS has only 1/3 of the sales of GTA:LCS, check out the numbers on this site).  Unfortunately, Sony made big mistakes with PSP, including the "value pack only" approach at first, UMDs and long loading times among others, that have hurt the system's reputation among hardcore gamers IMO.

I remember when the GC got it's price cut as well, but it was strategically placed around the holidays. I believe this will be negated in 1 day unfortunately when the Pokebomb is released.

Well I think it's time we not look at these weekly sales expecially after how off they were compared to the NPD in March, no matter how you factor Canada or Mexico into the situation. We can look at the NPD for Feb and March, which had the DS outsell the PSP at nearly 3 to 1 in both months. I think April is going to be a huge month for handhelds factoring in both the PSPs price cut and the release of Pokemon for the DS. I see sales north of 600k for the DS. THe PSP is going to get a nice jump, maybe to the 250k+ range, but the race isn't really going to get much closer. And just as troubling for the PSP as another poster mentioned is software sales. The PSP was supposed to be the hardcore gamer's handheld, but then why is the average PSP buyer buying less games than the average DS buyer?