If you compare the PS3 to the Dreamcast and Gamecube you'll see that it has sold fewer units in both Japan and North America and is selling at such a slow rate it probably will not catch up up in the near future; performing in the same range as those two systems is something that third parties will not be happy about and it is likely that their development will shift away from the PS3.

How well can a $400 to $600 system sell when it has as bad or worse support than two of the worst supported major platforms in recent history?

The truth is that the $200 Dreamcast and Gamecube had major difficulty selling even though they both had some of the best first and third party games of the generation produced for them; why would the PS3 be able to be more successful than these systems with similar and worse problems?

IMO the PS3 sells well for a 600 dollar/euro games console with most multi-platform developers still discovering how to use the SPEs well enough. But at the moment Sony's entry level home console product is really the PS2 which has outsold all other consoles in 2006 by a large margin and is still greatly outselling the XBox 360 globally.

A bit like Amiga 500 and A2000 or the Amiga 1200 / 600 and A4000. A low cost entry model and high entry model. I've bought 5 PS2 games for my PS3 already with more to follow in due time.

IMO the long term outlook is very promising, with HDTV marketshare rapidly increasing, PS3 entry most likely gradually coming down and good backward compatibily, the PS3 will be a nice option for the current enormous PS2 userbase. IMO even currently for PS2 fans owning expensive HDTVs the PS3 may be the best option as their PS2 games will be upscaled and they will be able to watch Blu-Ray movies to truly take advantage of the technology their TV set provides.

This christmas with a solid PS3 games line-up, free Home, Blu-Ray marginalizing HDDVD, likely price cut and further expected XMB improvements this process may get facilitated.

BTW, I personally think this website is underestimating the PS3 for other regions, which is hard to track.

Say again?  http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=DC&reg1=All&cons2=PS3&reg2=All&cons3=GC&reg3=All&align=1

It matters a lot, it means that Sony doesn't have any strong market at all compared to last time. Heck PS2 had sold more than 3 million consols at this time in Japan alone, PS3 has a hard time passing 1 million. PS2 have never sold as bad as it is doing now in Japan. Last generation PS2 was in the situation that Wii is in now, totally crushing the competition. So yes it matters.

http://www.vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=Japan&cons2=PS3®2=Japan&cons3=PS2®3=Japan&align=1

PS3 is actually even tracking behind the GameCube, in japan (which ended on only 4 millions)

http://www.vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=GC®1=Japan&cons2=PS3®2=Japan&cons3=PS2®3=Japan&align=1

So for the moment in at least Japan PS3 is selling bad.

EDIT: the same can be said about USA:

http://www.vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=America&cons2=PS3&reg2=America&cons3=GC&reg3=America&align=1

If the PS2 outsells the PS3 in the US and Japan for instance, then yeah.. you can say PS3 is doing pret-ty good

Ummmmm yeah....

Disregarding all historical data, the PS3 is currently selling at a low rate, giving it very little momentum to pick up more exclusive game announcements from third parties. Thats bad. 

Everyone expected the PS3 to sell bucket loads.....and because Sony consoles have won the last 2 generational battles, everyone expected the same again straight away.

In this respect the PS3 has failed....but...it is selling reasonably well compared  to other console this gen and last gen.  One other major problem is the price.  This IMHO is the sole reason for it not selling very fastly.

The PS3 is similar to the PSP....they are selling well enough and slowly racking up the sales, but their sales are generally not noticed as being good.

The Wii and DS for that matter are two totally different entities IMHO.  They have been selling much more than ever before.  Probably down to the really low prices and unique control methods.

The 360 is another wierd one.  Actually, the PS3 isn't selling that bad at all for a $600 machine (don't forget that it was supposed to be $500 at the most before it's launch), but the 360 IS selling badly...especially now.