Maybe the reason we think of asian hardware companies unable to build good software is tainted by the fact that one big american hardware company (Apple) managed to do so (build good software, I mean).

I mean, which other large american hardware-centric companies have managed the transition to software well?

I don't disagree, but I would imagine most base their view on the titans of each country. Apple and Sony got a lot easier to compare in the 2000's and Sony really did have bad software (friggin e-reader). Steve Jobs talked about Sony a lot in interviews. I would bet if we talk South Korean products, Samsung would be the archetype. Microsoft for their part makes nice hardware with pretty good software to back it up.

I haven't used a PlayStation in a long time so I don't know the current state, and I would guess Nest is not helping the US side of the equation. Apple isn't exactly covering itself in glory in the last couple of iOS releases (never mind the "California" series of OS X releases).

The PS3 software (based on FreeBSD) had quite nice usability but horrible system level performance, particularly when it came to disk/filesystems. You'd end up watching software update install progress bars more than play actual games.

The PS4 has a weird UI that feels oddly half-finished, but does okay on system level performance. It's sort of where the Xbox 360 was in 2005.