It's worth emphasizing the analysis regards just the United States. Regarding Japan for example the PS3 performaned better this year. I know this upsets some, that I provide a fuller picture. For example for Arpil PS3 hardware sales were up 275% compared to last year.
Most important are of course the PAL regions. The Euro is also a bit stronger than the US dollar, so could be more interesting financially to Sony as a company.