If it were released at $99, I'd buy one for myself and one for each of my guppies.

"Smartphones will kill dedicated mobile game devices"

I'm tired of this fallacy.

YAY! Soon all games will cost $.99 and All I will need to play it is a $599 ipad!!! ^_^ Thank God we will never have to pay $50 for another Mario outing again!

Of course it is. There is no merit in this country, only corruption. The honest will whither until they take what is rightfully theirs.

"The target consumer is a PS3 owner, and there's 60 million of those out there," Tretton said. "He's also male and in his early 20s."
Gamers, he said, will be attracted to how Vita users can play opponents on a PlayStation. Consumers can also buy versions of games that allow them to pick up on a Vita from where they left off on a PlayStation -- which can't be done on a smartphone.

So the target audience is the ps3 owner in his early 20s (who most probably doesn't have a job yet), who wants to pay (a lot) to play again the same games he has already played on his ps3 like UC, Resistance, Wipeout, Killzone.
I still have the feeling this console will flop, tought not because of iphones and ipads.

You read that wrong.  What they meant was I buy MLB 12 the show for my ps3 which comes with a Vita version.  I play on my PS3 but eventually I will have to leave to go do something.  Before leaving I transfer my saved data from my PS3 to my VIta so that I can play on the road.  I come back home, transfer the save data from my Vita back to my PS3 and pick up were I left off.

To add to your point, picture a world where core gamers ditch Halo, Mario, GT, GTA, ME, and BioS for angry birds, of infinity Blade?

Also consider that an iphone cost about $300 every 2-3 years (apply  this to every Smartphone). In other words, the hardware have no longevity, in 6 years you will have spent at least $800 on Smartphone hardware just to play the latest version of AB, CTR, and IB. Compared to a 3DS and a Vita which combined will cost less than $400 and will last at least 5-8 years, not to mention the games are far better.

I don’t get this Smartphone will eat away the handheld market argument, I can’t think of any Smartphone games that I want much less shell out $300 for the hardware that runs it. 

for $99 bucks!? darn I better not missed the opportunity again just like the $99 HP tab :D

rumor has it, if Sony cut the price to $50 they would be selling even MORE!!!

i dont want to get in trouble for insider information, so please dont spread this...