No one wants to be seen with a handheld in public anymore, unless they're a kid. Period, no one I know in real life would play a handheld console while on a train or bus, it'd make them look like complete losers. Seriously, playing handhelds when you're older than 16 in public makes you look like a geek lol. Vita would work well for kids, if it wasn't so god damn expensive. The 3DS looks more kid friendly and whatnot and has more kid friendly games, and it's cheaper.

If Sony wants to compete they have to make their next handheld console with a more kiddy image and less of a CODHARDCOREGORE image, because at the end of the day. The only people who play handhelds in publics are people who dont give a fuck about being judged, no matter what image you give the handheld they'll play it in public as long as it has games, not as expensive and whatnot. But by giving it a kiddy image it appeals to kids, something a Vita simply does not design wise or marketing wise. 

The PSP was badass because the PS2 was dominating atm, and the PSP was MANY people's first mobile media device. Browsing the web and using its app in 2005 was revolutionary, so it had decent use outside of gaming, and when kids got it they felt like they were badass and it had some kid friendly games on it. Meanwhile the Vita uses a horribly designed OS with no features that differeniate itself from a smartphone, expensive, and not kiddy friendly, what were they thinking? 

also I develop mobile games for Android, and even I wouldnt be caught dead with a Vita in public, nor anyone I know who knows of it. And I dont see myself using it at home as it defeats the purpose, if Sony had made Vita a smartphone then I would buy it day 1.

No offense but man if I saw someone 30 years old playing a handheld at a mall I would judge them. Do you own a Vita?

Of the two people in your scenario, I'd be far more judgemental of the person who looked down on someone else for playing a game on a handheld.  An actual adult isn't really worried about proving to the rest of the world that they are an adult.  It's like how a teenager is worried about being seen shopping with their mother but a grown-up has no such insecurities.

gigantor21 said:
There isn't really much of a market for non-Nintendo handhelds that aren't phones or tablets to begin with.

Seriously, I'm not sure if Sony could've done ANYTHING to make the Vita a real success at this point.

pokoko said:
That disappointing thing is that I believe Sony is actually well positioned to work on cross-media projects because of their presence in the film industry. Television or movie tie-ins could be big if they had a well-designed game to go along with them.

They simply dropped the ball with Vita support relative to what it needed to succeed in North America.