I have a feeling Sony will follow suit with a type of Switch/Steam Deck. It would open them to potential more consumers

I would release the ps6 in 2029. After almost 5 years of ps5, there is hardly a need for ps5, if you have a ps4 or ps4pro. Since they won't make much money (if at all) selling hardware, holding back will not hurt them. Especially considering microsoft becoming more of a third party dev and playstation the de facto high end home console.

Go 3rd party and release their games on Nintendos consoles.

Make more games

Release more first party games. Thats all. The lack of that is the bane of the PS5 right now.
Sony doesnt need a gimmicky console, its always been carried by fantastic game library. The minute they lose that, they lose market territory.

I understand the Pro is a helpful step to fine-tune towards the next gen but I feel that this could also be done and tested behind the scenes rather releasing it as a Pro model. Personally, I'm not against a Pro model and doesn't hurt consumers to have that option, but that would just add more cost to production mid-gen rather than just keeping the same model and use the resources to focus on the next gen.

I think the hardware market has gotten a bit much and feel that sometimes simplicity is best and should try to bring it back down to that level.

Handheld variant is a different topic and I also agree with this as a secondary option rather than a Pro option, 1 home console and 1 handheld both sharing the same library would be the best options to bring to the market.

In some of the articles on the front page, sony has said that they want to increase online sales. I don't know how this is going to be accomplished unless they do something more than get a bit more marketshare stemming from the xbox's slow decline as a brand. Backward compatibility would also be very nice.

Does anybody have a clue as to what is going on with the online strategy and how sony will try to grow this?

Go back to a closed walled garden, better quality; always was. And lower development costs, I do not need state of the art visuals; just a reason to own a playstation.

I already made the decision to not buy the PS6, but Sony can change my mind by doing one thing. Full backwards compatibility with all previous PS systems with discs and digital. Just make the PS1 - PS3 emulators be part of the PS6 and improve it overtime and I'll be there. My PS1 - PS3 won't last forever.

Is that your only reason? Do you intend on not buying a new system to play new games?