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Nikkei: Sony To Build Gaming Phone

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
The Nikkei Business Daily has posted up a story stating that Sony is going to be building a gaming phone, with a project team starting on the phone as early as July. You'll remember the Nikkei Business Daily as the people who spoil Nintendo's E3 conference every year the day before it happens.

Reuters said:
TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp is considering developing a cellphone-game gear hybrid in a bid to better compete with Apple Inc's highly popular iPod and iPhone, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate launched its first Walkman three decades ago, dominating the portable music player market, but it has been running far behind the iPod and iPhone in recent years.

Sony plans to set up a project team as early as July to develop a new product that combines functions of its portable game player and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones, the Nikkei said.

Sony Ericsson is a cellphone joint venture between Sony and Sweden's Ericsson.

A growing number of game-makers including Capcom Co Ltd and Square Enix Holdings are now offering software for the iPod and iPhone to take advantage of the Apple products' popularity, posing a threat to Sony's PlayStation Portable and Nintendo Co Ltd's DS.

A Sony spokesman declined to comment on the report.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
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Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/tech...20090627?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews
 
I really wish I hadn't heard this.

I'm planning on getting a new phone in a few months, and this is going to make me want to wait.
 
Hopefully it's the PSP2, not just some PSP/Cellphone hybrid with half the functionalities of each device.

Onix said:
I really wish I hadn't heard this.

I'm planning on getting a new phone in a few months, and this is going to make me want to wait.
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Well, article says development of this system starts in July. It seems way off. Probably a 2011-12 release.
 
Well this will work well.

So that gives Apple atleast another year? And will further confuse the roll of the PSP.

If they have any sense then they'd make it compatible with the PSP Go's download service, but that means it will have to have all the controls. In which case the PSP Go should have been a phone in the first place (with touchscreen).

So you have the iPod/iPhone scenario, just with one of the products only just being developed and launching a year or 2 later.

Oh Sony.
 
A next-gen PSP needs cell network connectivity. The latter is ubiquitous, wifi, not so much.

And if you're going to include that you might as well allow people to use it as a cellphone too.

Only question is if they'd roll that functionality into the existing PSP or if they'd include it starting with PSP2.
 
gofreak said:
A next-gen PSP needs cell network connectivity. The latter is ubiquitous, wifi, not so much.

And if you're going to include that you might as well allow people to use it as a cellphone too.

Only question is if they'd roll that functionality into the existing PSP or if they'd include it starting with PSP2.
Click to expand...

Touchscreen is a must for cellphones these days, so I bet this is all about PSP2 in the making.
 
Why don't they just focus on getting the cost of their platforms down instead of doing stuff like this? Apple already won the phone war.
 
Make it a real gaming platform, with the PSP library, and I'll get it for sure. Like millions of people. Hell, just add phone functionalities to the PSP with a bluetooth headset and I'll pay whatever the price with a new subscription.

Only way I would not get it is if they make, say, a GBA phone (pretty reasonable specs, fantastic games). God that would be killer, a GBmicro phone.
 
TTP said:
Touchscreen is a must for cellphones these days, so I bet this is all about PSP2 in the making.
Click to expand...

PSP will be on it's knees by the time this ever gets around to being released.

And as a product will cease to exist like Walkmans. You will just get PlayStation branded phones, compatible with the download service. The problem they've given themself in making the shift though is the amount of controls, but knowing Sony they'll just say fuck off to BC. Otherwise they can never be the sleakest of phones.
 
Hopefully it has a high price tag so my friends and neighbors can realize what an extremely wealthy and affluent consumer I am.
 
sidetalking.jpg
 
DECK'ARD said:
PSP will be on it's knees by the time this ever gets around to being released.

And as a product will cease to exist like Walkmans. You will just get PlayStation branded phones, compatible with the download service. The problem they've given themself in making the shift though is the amount of controls, but knowing Sony they'll just say fuck off to BC. Otherwise they can never be the sleakest of phones.
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The PSP may be half dead in the West, but it significantly outsells the Wii in Japan on a weekly basis, and is essentially now the unchallenged second place system there.

At one point last year it was even outselling every other system combined in the region, including the DS.

The system isn't going to be on its knees anytime soon.
 
Nirolak said:
The PSP may be half dead in the West, but it significantly outsells the Wii in Japan on a weekly basis, and is essentially now the unchallenged second place system there.

At one point last year it was even outselling every other system combined in the region, including the DS.

The system isn't going to be on its knees anytime soon.
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It does have an incredible line up too. Had Sony not priced the PSP Go so insanely it could have had a big resurgence in the West with the correct marketing.

There are more PSP games coming that I'm excited about than have released so far, and it's a pretty old system now.
 
stuburns said:
To better compete with the iPhone? Really Sony?
Don't waste your time. No chance.
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I picture meetings at Sony being like a James Bond supervillain, chaired by someone with a REALLY BIG chip on his shoulder about the iPod, and proudly wearing a Walkman logo emblazened uniform.

"This time we'll stop them!"
 
TTP said:
Touchscreen is a must for cellphones these days, so I bet this is all about PSP2 in the making.
Click to expand...

If it's the PSP2, it's probably at least 2 years away.

I'd wonder if they'd let 2 years or so pass without any cell-network-enabled PSP. Maybe they would, I dunno. I agree with some of the other posts that it would have been nice and more timely to have this functionality in PSP-Go (along with wifi also of course, for kids and such who can't or don't want to sign up to data plans and mobile contracts etc.)
 
stuburns said:
It does have an incredible line up too. Had Sony not priced the PSP Go so insanely it could have had a big resurgence in the West with the correct marketing.

There are more PSP games coming that I'm excited about than have released so far, and it's a pretty old system now.
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Why does the PSPgo pricing matter? It can still resurge... Just buy the PSP 3k.
 
DMeisterJ said:
Why does the PSPgo pricing matter? It can still resurge... Just buy the PSP 3k.
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Because Sony will blow millions on it's ad campaign pushing the PSP Go, people will see the price, laugh and ignore them. They have an incredible line up, but no one is going to know about it. How many people know FFAgitoXIII is coming out? That's a huge deal, and people would want to play it. But they never will. It takes money to sell a console, and I think they'll spend it in the wrong place and waste the opportunity.

Sony really need to make their shit cheap. This isn't the nineties anymore, they aren't cool, they aren't the king of consumer electronics. Their consistent arrogance needs to end before they screw up everything they've built.

I really thought the PS3 would be a reality shock for them, but no, the PSP Go price is obscene, and it's a huge mistake.
 
DECK'ARD said:
I picture meetings at Sony being like a James Bond supervillain, chaired by someone with a REALLY BIG chip on his shoulder about the iPod, and proudly wearing a Walkman logo emblazened uniform.

"This time! WE STOP THEM!"
Click to expand...

I corrected it for the accent I imagined. Good image, though
 
OnPoint said:
Bah. I'm shocked we haven't seen one yet.
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I'm not, assuming you want to play PSP games on it.

I wonder how you'd design such a phone. Make it look like an iPhone, but then have slide out buttons and analog nub(s) for gaming?

How much playtime of God of War do you get on a PSP?
 
stuburns said:
Because Sony will blow millions on it's ad campaign pushing the PSP Go, people will see the price, laugh and ignore them.
Click to expand...

And meanwhile people happily lap up $400 iPod Touches to use as a mobile gaming platform/music player.
 
Quasar said:
I'm not, assuming you want to play PSP games on it.

I wonder how you'd design such a phone. Make it look like an iPhone, but then have slide out buttons and analog nub(s) for gaming?

How much playtime of God of War do you get on a PSP?
Click to expand...
It could be the PSP Go with a touch screen for phone functions.

GoW is about 6 hours if I remember correct.

Quasar said:
And meanwhile people happily lap up $400 iPod Touches to use as a mobile gaming platform/music player.
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Yeah they are. Because Apple are cool enough to charge it, if you like it or not. Sony aren't. Their phones don't sell anything like the iPhone, their MP3 players don't sell anything like the iPod. This will be no different.
 
stuburns said:
GoW is about 6 hours if I remember correct.
Click to expand...

I mean in terms of battery life. I'm curious to know much quickly a high powered game like that chews through a PSP battery.
 
stuburns said:
Yeah they are. Because Apple are cool enough to charge it, if you like it or not.
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I know. I bought myself a 32 giger a couple of months ago. I didn't even think about getting a PSP instead. In part because I'm married to the iTunes experience and in part because of the smoothness of the iPod UI.

Of course if the Go was out and it had a media app with the sam functionality/quality as itunes I might have considered that.

And the ZuneHD looks like it will be priced at the same level as the Touch. One wonders how that will sell, even with its tech shininess.
 
If sony is going to do a psp phone I wonder who's going to develop it :o

The contract of the joint venture between sony and ericsson doesn't prevent sony to develop and sell a cell phone on its own ?

Could the psphone be the first playstation not made by SCEI ?
 
I read the article to suggest that Sony weren't looking to create new format but simply create a Walkman (or Playstation...I suppose) branded phone that had better gaming functionality.

It stands to reason that Sony would want a handset that is geared towards gaming seeing as their Walkman branded phones are catered for the music/phone market.
 
Quasar said:
I know. I bought myself a 32 giger a couple of months ago. I didn't even think about getting a PSP instead. In part because I'm married to the iTunes experience and in part because of the smoothness of the iPod UI.

Of course if the Go was out and it had a media app with the sam functionality/quality as itunes I might have considered that.

And the ZuneHD looks like it will be priced at the same level as the Touch. One wonders how that will sell, even with its tech shininess.
Click to expand...
The current PSP doesn't really stand up to the iPod Touch at all. Other than for gaming. Apple are just kings of UI and software design. They completely outclass Sony, as they should, Sony aren't a software company primarily.

The issue with the Go to me is, it's going to be identical in function to the current PSP. How can Sony justify the cost to the consumer? The iPod Touch might do pretty much the same as a normal iPod, but it does it so much better, the PSP Go is not doing anything better at all, it just looks a little sleeker, but still not as sleek as an iPod Touch.

I just think it's dead in the water if Sony don't fix the price point before it hits retail.
 
Nirolak said:
is essentially now the unchallenged second place system there.
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Wow, second place out of two, that's impressive.
stuburns said:
Sony aren't a software company primarily.
Click to expand...
Neither is apple you know, there's a reason why unless you like mucking around you need a hardware dongle to run Mac OS X
stuburns said:
The issue with the Go to me is, it's going to be identical in function to the current PSP. How can Sony justify the cost to the consumer?
Click to expand...
They're probably hoping to pull a Nintendo. The DS' price did go up from the DS to the Lite to the DSi, and only the i added some sort of functionalities.
 
Blast Processing said:
Reasons not to buy a PSP Go:

1) Waiting for a price drop

2) Waiting for a PSPhone
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's it. PSP Go is actually the most well-designed and smartly positioned handheld device of all time. "Fanboy excuses" are going to look really silly when it takes the world by storm, amirite?

Honestly, if they're going to do a PSP phone, that should have been the Go. It's now completely irrelevant.
 
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