I'm not an expert on the subject, so if I'm wrong about this, I apologize in advance. But here's how I understand the not-making-it-backwards-compatible thing:
With the PS3 (at least at the beginning; I'm not sure about right now) and (presumably) the PS4, Sony is already selling each system at a lower cost than it took for them to make the system. Basically, they sell it at a loss, and make up for it by the games sold, etc. It's a risk. The more expensive they make the system, the larger risk they're taking. By that logic, it would make sense for them to choose to not include the features they believe are not necessary.
(To be fair, I disagree-- I love backwards compatibility.)
Again, I'm not sure if this is correct. It's just cobbled together from what I picked up from half-listening to, mostly-ignoring my older brother (who is rather well-informed about the video game industry) while he babbles on at me while I'm trying to do something else.
Re: Xbox One news
With the PS3 (at least at the beginning; I'm not sure about right now) and (presumably) the PS4, Sony is already selling each system at a lower cost than it took for them to make the system. Basically, they sell it at a loss, and make up for it by the games sold, etc. It's a risk. The more expensive they make the system, the larger risk they're taking. By that logic, it would make sense for them to choose to not include the features they believe are not necessary.
(To be fair, I disagree-- I love backwards compatibility.)
Again, I'm not sure if this is correct. It's just cobbled together from what I picked up from half-listening to, mostly-ignoring my older brother (who is rather well-informed about the video game industry) while he babbles on at me while I'm trying to do something else.