I wonder if this originally got greenlighted as a "gaikai" player, gaikai being a competitor to onlive which sony bought and has promoting as part of the playstation 4.

As the article mentioned, ps4 games are supposed to allow remote play on a vita device, so this will actually be useful in my household where the tv with the ps4 is being occupied, but that seems like niche problem to solve.

Being able to add to the installed base of the Vita is a good thing for sony which will drive more game development, and if they can work out how not to cannibalize ps4 sales by offering gaikai direct (assuming it really works; color me skeptical that it will be a lag free experience), plus the video services like netflix, this may turn out to be a nice device for Sony.