The general consumer doesn't see it that way. The general consumer doesn't have all the 'in depth' knowledge that people like us would have, knowing about the potential defects of early adoption.

All they see is the shiny new thing, accompanied by the usual Sony hype and marketing. The general consumer is a gullible target, and people with such a trusted brand like 'Playstation' can easily siphon money from them.

Then, you have the 'gotta have it' sub-group, who have too much money to spend and must have the latest and greatest in everything. These are the people who make these systems sell out on launch day, who Sony was guaranteed to have buy their console no matter how many they brought out. Even if they had a million consoles on the first day, they would all be sold immediately.