Why are people surprised to hear this? It's widely known and documented that Sony are making an initial loss of circa $300 on every PS3 sold at RRP. It's far from unusual for a company to be taking a hit on a good product after R&D/materials/production are taking into consideration.
Their saving grace is that in the long run (i.e 5 years) the product at the centre of this the PS3 will be raking it in for them, as production costs fall, at some point on the timeline they will start making a profit on the consoles.
The fact is, they have a very good product, and with marketing and some pivotal games releases it will start the ball rolling more quickly, the other limiting factor is peoples inability/confusion over the HD war and which way it is likely to swing.
I'm pretty sure the losses won't come to the surprise of Sony, it's share holders, or anybody else in the industry.