Well, I mean they're shooting themselves in the foot by basically pointing out a flaw of the system.
When people were saying that the 3DS should have a Nintendo battery extender, I said it wouldn't happen because Nintendo would just be making themselves look like incompetent fools. They'd be saying "Hey, we could've had this add-on as part of the actual system and have no complaints on battery life, but instead we're gonna make you pay extra for our mistakes!" Sony is currently doing that right now. I guess they didn't want to make the Vita a lot fatter since apparently electronics being paper thin is the hip new trend today, but making people pay extra for an add-on you designed to compensate for a problem they know damn well you can solve is just a slap in the face to consumers. And before you think I'm going all traitor with Sony, yes, Nintendo is doing the same thing with the slide pad add-on, so don't go "YEAH FUCK SONY NINTENDO WOULD NEVER DO THAT!"
All that being said, I'm content with the Vita battery, I'm one of those people who actually charges my shit instead of just throwing it on the counter and leaving it without charge for days. And I'm also one of those people who do more than drool over their handheld 24/7 so I can't see myself playing it for more than 3-5 hours without a charger in the area. I also keep everything on low when I'm on the go (backlight and various other settings) as a habit. Only time I even remember turning up my PSP backlight to the max when on-the-go was on a bus ride to DC (Gahars knows what I'm talking about) and the sunlight was blaring through the window and giving me the worst glare.
Will I buy the add-on? Probably not unless the battery craps out on my Vita or I have enough cash to not buy another game (unlikely since I can buy PSP games and such from the store for a lot cheaper than Vita games) but enough to buy the add-on. Do I think it's stupid? Yes, yes I do. Still, I don't have many complaints about the system outside of the rear touchpad, which honestly is big case of "Why?" and this, but this is completely optional. Maybe the 3G too but that again is completely optional.