Sony to introduce Playstation phone
20 Nov, 2007, 1645 hrs IST,Ritwik Donde, TNN — MUMBAI: Watch out Apple and Google, Sony may just surprise the world with a 'Playstation Phone'. The Japanese company is toying with the idea of developing a 'Playstation phone' that will combine …
Context & Ripple Effects
Six months after Unwired View reported Sony Ericsson at work on a PSP phone, the idea resurfaces through the Times of India — still with no announcement behind it, only that Sony is 'toying' with the concept. What has changed since June is the competitive backdrop: Apple's iPhone reached the market this year and Google has moved into handsets, which is what gives the report its 'watch out Apple and Google' framing.
Both load-bearing claims in the story — that Sony is developing such a device and that it would challenge Apple and Google — carry rumor status as of this writing, so the news value lies in intent and positioning rather than any shipped product.
First-order effects
- If the device moves past talk, Sony would be pointing its PlayStation brand straight at Apple and Google in their first year in handsets — the same holiday quarter in which Piper Jaffray projects a record 25 million iPod sales for Apple.
- Until Sony confirms anything, the immediate effect runs through expectations rather than product lines: a gaming-branded handset becomes part of how buyers and rivals price the phone market.
Second-order effects
- Operators gain negotiating leverage either way — even a rumored PlayStation phone is another marquee device carriers can bid over, the dynamic already visible in France forcing Apple to promise an iPhone not locked into a long-term Orange contract.
- Rival handset makers would need an answer to a gaming-first phone, pushing entertainment capability from bolt-on features into core device specifications.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, dedicated portable consoles and phones converge, and control shifts toward whichever software platform — Apple's, Google's, or Sony's — captures the games spending that previously followed the hardware.
The trend: Mobile handsets are absorbing dedicated gaming devices, forcing console brands like Sony to decide whether to ride the phone platform or compete against it.