I know the PS3 launch could've went a little smoother (okay, a LOT smoother) but has everything that has happened of recent enough reason to expect that the PS3 signals the end of Sony as a console manufacturer (much like the Dreamcast was the death of Sega as a leader in the console world) and lead to them developing software much like Sega did as well?

From the article:

While Sony spun the changes as a "strengthening" of its executive team, many analysts saw it as a vote of no confidence for Kutaragi's stewardship of the PlayStation 3. The high-tech console's blu-ray laser drive has been plagued by component manufacturing woes, which drastically limited supply of the console for its Japanese and North American launches, and delayed its European debut until 2007.

Some analysts went one step further, taking Hirai's succession as a harbinger of doom. No one was more pessimistic than Nomura Securities' Yuta Sakurai, who made the astounding prediction that the PlayStation 3 would be the last console Sony, the current console market-share leader, would ever make.

"The appointment of Hirai could be the start of a shift from hardware to software," said Sakurai. "I cannot now imagine a PlayStation 4." According to the Financial Times, Sakurai's reasoning is that "Hirai’s new global portfolio puts a predominantly software-focused manager in charge of the company." His logic is reportedly that, with the emphasis moving to software, Sony would go the way of Sega, transforming from a console-maker to a mere game publisher.

Read the full article over at gamespot.com