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The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony will release a new smart phone “capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games” later this year, as well as a competitor to Apple’s iPad that may also play PSone titles.
According to Japan’s Nikkei business daily, Sony will next month begin the process of designing a “cellphone-game gear hybrid” which it’s hoped will give Apple’s iPhone a run for its money.
Sony may not yet be ready to dive in feet first with a PlayStation branded phone, but the new Sony Ericsson Aino brings some of that “gadget to gadget” magic Sony bossman Howard Stringer teased.
Yup. This again. With Sony’s phone partnership with Ericsson running up record losses, company boss Hideki Komiyama has again raised the prospect of a PlayStation Phone.
Sony refused to allow Sony Ericsson the use of its Playstation brand for a possible Playstation Portable phone during a pitch to the company’s board late last year, Mobile Today reports.
Earlier we posted what we thought could be the “PlayStation Phone” — which was more phone than PlayStation. This Sony Ericsson “gaming phone” does not carry the PlayStation brand, which is something many analysts found strange. Elsewhere business site Marketing Weeks writes about the rumoured PlayStation phone Sony is apparently working on:
It is thought the phone will incorporate elements of the PlayStation Portable (PSP). It is understood the phone could hit the shelves in time for Christmas 2009… Sources in Japan and Korea say Sony is working on converting the current PSP model into a phone. Analysts say it would be “relatively easy” to convert the current PSP as it already incorporates wi-fi.
According to Marketing Week, the reason why the Sony Ericsson phone does not carry the PlayStation brand is that Sony would “never give its PlayStation branding” to Ericsson after learning from its “strategic error” of giving the Walkman brand to Ericsson. What’s more, relationship between Sony and Ericsson is “frosty”. Burrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Sony plots gaming phone with PlayStation branding [Marketing Week via MCVUK][Pic]
Sorry. The “PlayStation Phone”. Because it’s a lot more phone than it is “PlayStation”. Letdown. Pictured above is the Sony Ericsson F305 phone, first in their new “F” series of devices, due for release later this year. The Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog – source for this info and the pics – believe the “F” stands for “fun”, because the phone not only features motion-controlled gaming, but also boasts the familiar “O” and “X” buttons, as well as a PlayStation control pad icon, suggesting that gaming is going to be made a primary feature of the line. If this is as PlayStation phone as Sony are willing to go (and it probably is), it’s a smart move – actually branding the thing a PlayStation Phone, and going all-out on the gaming side of things, may not have been the smartest thing to do to the brand.
Sony Ericsson F305 is for fun and games [USEB, via Gizmodo AU]
Yay, more Sony phone talk, and this time without even mentioning the word “PlayStation”! According to Pocket-Lint, Sony Ericsson have signed a deal with GestureTek, whose motion-sensing software powers stuff like the EyeToy. The deal will have a similar version of said software running on Sony Ericsson phones around September, and via the handset’s cameras, will allow the phones to play motion-sensitive games. Two titles currently mooted to appear for the new capabilities are a Super Monkey Ball game and a Crash Bandicoot title (pictured). Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to increase the probability of a PlayStation Phone being announced later this year up a few percentage points.
Sony Ericsson to launch new gaming phone range [Pocket-Lint, via Gizmodo AU]
Is a PlayStation phone in the works? Oh, absolutely. Or not. We’ve gone back and forth so many times with quotes from gabby Sony Computer Entertainment Europe execs that we’re totally confused at this point. But the rumor that a PSP capable of making a phone call—that isn’t via Skype—keeps popping up. Most recently, a blurb in Sony Magazine hinted that such a device was in the works, even pointing to a February release date. Good luck with that.
If a PSPhone does exist, this mock-up is one of the better ones we’ve seen. The scan, courtesy of NeoGAF member metalmurphy, is clearly labeled as fiction, with the article estimating that such a product has a 35% chance of coming to market. Pretty, yes, but maybe we’re just distracted by the Millenium Falcon. A PlayStation Phone, while not a terrible idea, won’t be replacing my iPhone any time soon.
Sony Ericsson PSPhone [NeoGAF]
