So you should already know that Sony has officially made similar moves in the US to what we saw in the UK regarding PS3's price and specs.
Speaking about the move in the Wall Street Journal, US Sony boss Jack Tretton said, "While we were incredibly excited about the technology in PS3 and while it was future-proofed to some degree, it was a bit ahead of its time. The downside of all that technology was the price we had to offer it to consumer at retail. We knew $599 [£293] was going to be a challenge for some people based on traditional videogame pricing."
The comments reflect somewhat of a turnaround. At launch Sony stood by its company line that the console wasn't expensive considering what you were getting inside the box.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that during the interview Tretton "conceded that removing that capability, along with a few other features, isn't dramatically reducing Sony's cost of manufacturing the console but will instead encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system."
Sony's own research apparently showed that compatibility with PlayStation 2 games isn't likely to be missed by customers, who should already own the older system.