i'd say your 3rd party company is full of shit then 'cause sony has stated several times now that at launch it will be selling close to but still below cost.

OT - I just found i have 4 weeks of travel starting Feb 20th.  might have to change my plans and get a vita at launch just to keep myself sane over that month and this is a decent deal. 

However, the details of this plan isn't actually that good.  You have to have first payed for a full month of ATT service before getting a free month (for which you still have to pay taxes) or your free game and then you have to cancel your automatic renewal.  as I don't actually want the data subscription this is too much hassel and cost to be worth it. 

But why?  You can just not get a 3g subscription and be perfectly find and dandy.

I wasn't serious. Of course there are a lot of other things that affect the cost of an electronic device. Hardware cost is only one of the many things, you mentioned some of them. They don't profit from the hardware that is for sure, but I guess with the memory cards it shouldn't be too bad. The cost mentioned seems believable though, generally high end phones cost about $150.

I am definitely buying one too. I am actually surprised how it sells this bad in Japan, what can you ask for more? It is my dream handheld, hope it starts better in everywhere else.

The lack of Japanese oriented software is the only thing that comes to mind. That time also had Final Fantasy XIII-2, Monster Hunter 3G(3DS?), and I believe a Mario game, so it's not suprising it didn't do amazingly. It will do better in time.

 The cost of the raw Vita components was estimated to be $170. Of course going from that to what it costs Sony to sell a unit must then also add in many other costs - taxes, distribution, retailer cut, marketing, production, packaging etc. To give you some idea, the 3DS was estimated to be around $100 by the same company but came out as a loss per sale for Nintendo once they cut the price to $170. I'd guesstimate Sony are making money per Vita sold if you don't include marketing in that figure, losing per unit if you include marketing and then profiting if you include the money they'll make from accessories (mainly SD cards).

 I'm expecting that $250 to quickly have some more value added into it within the first month. Nearly all consumer electronics are based off the financial model where early adoptors get you a bulk of profits and the Vita is no different. There won't be any official price cut but that $250 will get you a Vita with a memory card and game pretty soon I reckon. Albeit I don't totally know how things work in America - the UK price will certainly come to offer better value within mere weeks.

depending on what the game is, i might upgrade my wifi only model to this.
if they made it 16gb, they would have the sale right now

I think I'll buy a psp since the price will drop by around $30 once the vita comes out. That will be a better deal imo.

Gamestop is also doing this deal as well.

http://www.gamestop.com/ps-vita/consoles/playstation-vita-3g-wi-fi-launch-bundle/90061

The 3G version hasn't got Wi-Fi.

Right?

um they are actually losing $60 dollars per vita sold.
they have already confirmed that.
they make profit off games and accessories, if any profits to be made its from that .