First off, this has nothing to do with price cut. I just checked ebgames.com and noticed new commentary from people who just got both the 60gb, 80gb(mgs4 version) and even the 20gb ps3s. The used 80gb(mgs4)/60gb are even more expensive than new 80gb. I think it's quite obvious why those who bought these models bought them and they had to buy them refurbished.

Most people I know don't buy used electronics for various reasons but these new ps3 purchasers obviously had no choice in this case. I can't say for certain how many they are relative to other ps3 owners but could this group be responsible for the 9% decrease in ps3 Y.O.Y holiday sales?

let me explain: used/refurbished ps3s aren't tracked by vgc or sony for that matter. So analysts jumped the gun claiming ps3 was doomed when it's quite possible that used ps3s more than made up for the missing sales especially since, relative to say the 360, ps3s are known to be more reliable. In this case especially, people bought used ps3s because the new ones didn't have what they wanted.

My theory boils down to this: I think sony could see at least a 10% boost in sales if they released another ps3 with similar specs as the old versions (4 usbs(not as important), BC(essential)) even if it was say $50 0r $100 more expensive> What do you think?

No raising the price and adding another sku would be bad. All they need for BC is to get it to work using software emulation, thats it. Then drop the price when they can afford it, probably by fall. Then the sales will rise, especially if you can get GT5, Uncharted 2, R&CF 2 and FFXIII(in japan) out by the end of the year. I would expect the PS3 to greatly improve on last years numbers.

How about building them poorly so they'll fail in 15 months so you have to get a new one.  Oops thats already been used.

Just the price of the BC model? I'm not entirely sure they can get BC to work by firmware and some people need it NOW. Evidence lies in the lucreativity of selling old BC ps3s even for exhorbitant prices.

Advertise the features:

Web browser, downloadable music, blu-ray, etc. We all know what makes the PS3 and 360 similar. Sony needs to SERIOUSLY show what makes it different.

Or, change the name to Wii Play-Station. That would work too.

I think a price-but is more important than adding BC, so Sony should focus on getting a PS2 emulator to run on the PS3, and not add build cost to the PS3.
Software BC and a pricecut would no doubt help Sony sell PS3s and more so than BC or pricecut alone.

For the most part I think that is a mistake. The high price point buyers by this point are pretty much mined out -- there are some for certain but I do not think enough to matter. The feature is not a bad one but if it requires raising the price I think they will end up with a lot of stock they will not be able to sell or making these in extremely small runs which is less cost efficient.

They got BC to work using software emulation on the original 80GB PS3's

That might work but considering the cost in court, I think they'll be better off just cutting the price.

As for the features, I'm pretty sure they talk a lot about that. For me, BC was the push that swayed  my cousin and I to ps3 as opposed to 360 thats why I think this is important. There are ps2s out there but there's nothing like playing your whole back library on one system. It also helps to ease some people's decision making when transitioning from ps2 to ps3. Without BC, ps3 doesn't feel like a successor to ps2. The model works for 360 since the xbox wasn't successful but even the wii has complete GC BC which was a concept they took off sony considering that nintendo never had BC before.

Just so we're clear: are we talking about launching the old PS3 model for $550-$600?

I ask because there's already a $500 model, right?