Looks Official: 2012 Launch for PS Vita in North America and Europe

At the bottom of a Reuter's memo about Sony's TV business comes this not-totally-unexpected bombshell from Kaz Hirai:

Sony has said it would pull together plans to overhaul its TV business this month, and last week it cut its annual TV sales forecast while warning that losses on TVs could widen this year.
Its videogames division could also face trouble after rival Nintendo's latest handheld gadget flopped, forcing a resort to deep price cuts that could hurt sales of Sony's PS Vita.
The PS Vita will go on sale in Japan by the end of the year and in North America and Europe early next year, Hirai said.

Could be a mistake, but most likely not and its odd that he mentioned it ahead of the GamesCon and TGS events, kind of sucks the wind out of those shows. And unlike the PSP, which was an easy import, I'm guessing the software and location stuff will make this an import-unfriendly system.

UPDATE: As PushSquare points out, the move doesn't make masses of sense, PSP is going strong in Japan with a big list of games still to come, but the PSP won't make a dent in most westerner's shopping lists. Release in the west to counter the 3DS and then in Japan when the PSP tails off.

Sure, this isn't an official delay as there was never any mention of a launch date outside of eager stores (Amazon, Blockbuster, etc) but it would have been cool if Sony had been more upfront about it to dampen expectations.

Bets are now on whether it'll be a January, February or March release (depending on where you read) and if its any longer than that, I'll wait for the PS Vettel, the fastest console of all time!