'Is the Electric Guitar Dying?'

Well the Washington Post seemed to think so. I've reposted this interview video by The Tone King with the CEO of FMIC Andy Mooney in defence of his product and the electric guitars place in the world.
The shocking stat that really got me was that their research showed that 45% of all guitars (Fender) are sold to first time players, of those 45%, 90% abandon the instrument in the first year if not the first 90 days. Shock horror!! So what does that say? Smoke On The Water can get pretty boring very quickly or playing the guitar is much harder than playing the Play Station? Fender seem to think the answer lies in lessons. Mmm? pretty obvious I would have thought.