http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/10/report-pspgo-flops-in-australia/
Hmm, insultingly high price, no information on the availability of launch games and when there ARE launch games, we only get about half the selection?
How ever did this fail? I'm scratching my head in bewilderment

Oh I don't know, the fact that there is NO UMD SLOT?
This is worse than the sales of Windows Vista in China.

No UMD would be a good thing IF they released the back catalogue. I'd have waited to get a Go IF I knew I could get Warhammer 40K Squad Command for it but they never mentioned back catalogue releases and given how few we got here anyway, I think I was better off getting the 3K

How ever did this fail? I'm scratching my head in bewilderment
Let me guess, Aussie retailers worried that they will lose sales on the PSP 3000, etc., if the Go appears to be the better purchase option.

What I find hilarious is that there are a large majority of aspiring PSP No-Go owners who fit the following criteria:
1) They own at least one UMD
2) They paid money for said UMD's
These people don't realize that by BUYING the PSP No-Go, and ACCEPTING Sony's lack of a solution of existing UMD discs (Not that there is a legally viable solution to just let people "download the games" they own due to licensing), that they are essentially saying "I want my UMD's to be worthless paperweights".
You VOTE with your dollars in a capitalist society, and people are ASKING for it, literally! I mean, is the allure of the new shiny that strong that people will buy a product which is blatantly designed with allowing it's users to pretend they are NOT gamers in mind as the primary "feature"? The thing is obviously form > function, and the cramped hands you get playing your "stealth portable" will prove me right.
George Carlin said it best (RIP):
"People are fucking GOOFY"
Anything short of a free UMD exchange program for ALL previously released titles (which is impossible) represents apathy on the part of Sony, and irresponsibility on the part of those who DO buy the PSP No-Go,

the price is insultingly high no matter where you are.

Quite true, I wasn't trying to imply that we have it worse off than anyone else here although with the current exchange rate I'd have bought a Go from america and gotten a good price

I'm not the least bit surprised really, partly expecting it.
EB not stocking it would have a fair impact on sales here, but I see it as a combination of reasons why it's done so badly.

It has to be embarassing when there are more students at my small shitty university than there are customers for the PSPGo
Wonder if sony will learn their lesson or if they'll just see the launch month having amazing sales of the PS3 after the long long long looooooong awaited price drop and consider everything a success

it's the idea of cutting out shops from selling games they make more profit than by making umds

Definitely. I would be suprised if EBgames carries this at all in North America. Plus, I bet the downloaded files will not be redownloadable, and even if they are, it will be an acocunt-style setup like Steam, so that you will never own anything.

Downloads are locked to the hardware they are first downloaded to.

Looks like I'll be keeping hold of my PSP, and ignoring the no-go.
Impressively, it manages downloads AND UMDs. Imagine that, such cutting edge technology...
Plenty of second hand UMDs as well. How many second hand downloads are there?

Huh. Could have been great, but there's no UMD transfer tool.