Sony Ericsson "PSP" phone could threaten Apple's iOS game revenue

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Sounds like a desperation move by Sony if they adopt Android. Instead of "strong competition" it sounds more like "Sony's death rattle".



    ...and that's kind of a shame-- really!



    ,
  • Reply 22 of 83
    jensonbjensonb Posts: 532member
    It "could", theoretically, do just that. But then the zune HD "could" have done that to the iPod touch. When's the last tiem you heard anyone mention a zune HD?



    Sony is a bit part in the portable gaming space. Why even bother worring about a vapourware Sony Ericsson PSP Phone running an as-yet unseen custom version of an as-yet unreleased version of Android? Sure it could threaten iOS Game Revenues, but you know something? Nintendo's 3DS will threaten iOS Game Revenues.



    And the 3DS is going to blow any offering from Sony (PSP, PSP Phone, PSP2) so thoroughly apart that it won't even be funny.
  • Reply 23 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sector7G View Post


    I think this phone will be a flop, they couldn't sell the stand alone version. now they want you to get a contract for one.



    whats with all the people saying this stuff? The PSP has sold 60 million units. Thats called selling quite well actually considering Wii has only sold 73 million units. It is far from "not selling at all." Its the Playstation 3 that isn't selling that well, and people only say that because they are comparing it to the Playstation 2. But actually 38 million units sold is decent. Its not great but it isn't bad either, its only bad when compared to the original Playstation and the Playstation 2.



    On another note, If they make a phone with this ecosystem I hope they make a stand alone equivalent and put Playstation 2 games on Playstation Network. I would buy it if it was a stand alone unit or had a stand alone unit option, probably wouldn't buy it if it were a phone though...
  • Reply 24 of 83
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    This will be a big gain for Android but little gain or even potential loss for Sony. Sooner HTC or Samsung will comes up with this Android game platform and basically eat away Sony market share further.
  • Reply 25 of 83
    oc4theooc4theo Posts: 294member
    Sony spent 10 years trying to compete with the iPod, and almost went out of business trying. Sony Ericsson were in business years before iPhone emerged, and still they cannot compete.



    PSP phone? How about walkman phone? No, no no, how about Cybershot phone? Sony Vaio/Cybershot/PSP, that will be the real iPhone killer. That will really get Apple out of business.
  • Reply 26 of 83
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The smartphone will reportedly run Android 3.0, also known as Gingerbread. A new area of the Android Market would be created specifically for games, which could be ported from the PSP or PSX library. These games could then be brought to other Android phones, provided they meet certain specification and control requirements.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Firefly7475 View Post


    If Sony want to make an impact they need to build PSN and a games division for Android, not just Sony phones.



    They could still maintain control (or rather - they have to, to make it work) by certifying minimum requirements for phones to have the Android PSN.



    I've got a feeling the won't be able to put something together fast enough though. Apple are furiously copying Xbox Live at the moment and they will no doubt have a solid product in place in 12 months.



    Did you not read the article?
  • Reply 27 of 83
    That sounds like PSP games won't play on it, and PSP Go games won't play on it, and... yeah, you get the idea. Buy this phone, then re-buy all your games. Let me know how that works out for you, Sony.
  • Reply 28 of 83
    grkinggrking Posts: 533member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OC4Theo View Post


    Sony spent 10 years trying to compete with the iPod, and almost went out of business trying. Sony Ericsson were in business years before iPhone emerged, and still they cannot compete.



    PSP phone? How about walkman phone? No, no no, how about Cybershot phone? Sony Vaio/Cybershot/PSP, that will be the real iPhone killer. That will really get Apple out of business.



    Really? Can you please explain, and provide details, particularly financial details of Sony's near demise related to their activities in the portable music player segment. I have to wonder about your assertion, if only because you know that the iPod was introduced on Oct. 23, 2001 (which is less than 10 years from today), and the iPod did not come to be the dominant force it is until the release of iTunes for Windows, which was introduced on Oct. 16, 2003. So I am not sure how Sony spent a decade trying to compete against a product that has been on the market for less than a decade.
  • Reply 29 of 83
    ckh1272ckh1272 Posts: 107member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dreadkid08 View Post


    whats with all the people saying this stuff? The PSP has sold 60 million units. Thats called selling quite well actually considering Wii has only sold 73 million units. It is far from "not selling at all." Its the Playstation 3 that isn't selling that well, and people only say that because they are comparing it to the Playstation 2. But actually 38 million units sold is decent. Its not great but it isn't bad either, its only bad when compared to the original Playstation and the Playstation 2.



    On another note, If they make a phone with this ecosystem I hope they make a stand alone equivalent and put Playstation 2 games on Playstation Network. I would buy it if it was a stand alone unit or had a stand alone unit option, probably wouldn't buy it if it were a phone though...



    The PSP has been out almost two years longer than the Wii. Also, the Wii is not it's competition. The DS is and has sold 132 million since 2004. The PSP was actually better of using UMD discs than this download they chose for the PSP Go. That has been a failure on all fronts plain and simple.
  • Reply 30 of 83
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    meh, i won't write it off before it's released. competition is good.
  • Reply 31 of 83
    It could but... I dunno. Sony is a really dysfunctional company these days. It will probably take them a year to release it and it will have few games on launch. It will have to compete against 150 million iOS devices and another 100 million Android devices with dozens of models on the market. There's a very good chance they'll do their own Sony Games SDK or use a unique button layout to ice out other Android handset makers from getting the benefits of a good gaming platform. In the end I think it will be a flop. If it had come out 2 or 3 years ago though...
  • Reply 32 of 83
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member
    I wish apple would buy some content. Getting dangerous now.
  • Reply 33 of 83
    Not going to work.

    Sony is only in it because Google is throwing money around from their ad business on mobile devices. Also, the carriers are going to charge a lot so you can play. They ain't going to sit buy and watch as you get jiggy and not get their cut.

    And also, where are you going to be downloading the games? In the bus. Not with games consisting of millions of bytes of data. You better be at a wifi hotspot. Good luck being a grown man or a broke a** kid looking for a wifi hotspot in order to download a 1.5 giga byte game from one network that will take about 45 minutes. Then you have to find someone to play with. Hopefully Sony plans on putting that phone on every network. Yeah, that phone would have to be on every network to work the right way.

    Ain't going to work.
  • Reply 34 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ckh1272 View Post


    The PSP has been out almost two years longer than the Wii. Also, the Wii is not it's competition. The DS is and has sold 132 million since 2004. The PSP was actually better of using UMD discs than this download they chose for the PSP Go. That has been a failure on all fronts plain and simple.



    I don't normally post on Apple Insider as I believe it's for Apple followers, which I am no longer since my iBook died. While I do develop games for both iOS and Android, I try to stay out of you guys/gals conversations.



    However, sometimes you guys post off the wall stuff unrelated to Apple that deserves correction. Your comment about the psp would indicate that you either don't own a psp or you used it 2x and decided your iphone was a better gaming platform. Either way, you're wrong about the UMDs. These little pieces of crap plastic are a total waste as they break so easily you're constantly looking for receipts to try to get the game fixed our returned for another one. I bought the psp for my 8 year old only to find those damn umds all over the floor, outside their protective covers. My son stopped playing the umd games and took the download options instead. No disk, no worries.



    The pspgo is upsetting hardcore gamers because old umds simply can't be played on the pspgo, forcing people to buy their games over again. But this isn't a limitation enforced by Sony, rather by the game publishers seeking double revenue.



    If Sony were to create a psp phone, it wouldn't matter much to the iOS platform because of the barriers of entry that Sony places on their licensees that developed games for Sony's platforms. The cost of the psp and playstation sdks and licenses would drive a indie developer broke. Compare that to iOS, about $1,300 ($100 for distribution, $700 for decent mac mini, $200-$800 for a testing device (optional but recommended)), or Android, about $225 ($25 for distribution, $0 for computer since it's likely you already have one, $200 for testing device), to Sony's $10,000 minimum license per platform and you'll see why this won't have much impact.



    Sure it will be great for Android, but we already have a PSX emulator for high powered phones out of China (where IP is a myth, apparently). The difference is we won't have to question the legality of downloading games from the net or converting over all these old psx discs I have to iso files. But I think this is Sony's way of keeping customers who are growing up and putting the games away for more communication options, that happen to play games too.



    Will this be a flop? Depends on how many psp lovers are moving to the iphone or android for their gaming fix. If Sony's goal is to slow that number, then we won't be able to compare it to iphone or android sales as a whole. You'd have to separate those small group of players that crossed over, and that's a harder thing to measure.
  • Reply 35 of 83
    kotatsukotatsu Posts: 1,010member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by danbirchall View Post


    That sounds like PSP games won't play on it, and PSP Go games won't play on it, and... yeah, you get the idea. Buy this phone, then re-buy all your games. Let me know how that works out for you, Sony.



    Did you rebuy all your PS2 games on PS3? No, you bought brand new PS3 games.



    This new device, which makes a lot of sense if you actually think about it, would have brand new PSP Phone games on it.



    It will also surely plug into Sony's PSN store for games, which would be unavailable to non PSP Phone devices. Sony will want it's exclusive IP well protected and kept off non Sony Android phones. Sony will also surely make a non phone version, just like the iPod Touch, which would be a direct replacement for the PSP Go.



    It's also worth noting that Sony already have their own iTunes clone (it's called Media Go), from which people can buy games, movies, comics etc and transfer them to their PSP.
  • Reply 36 of 83
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Good luck to Mr Casamassinanissianamassia. A PSP + Android combo will be pretty hard to beat.
  • Reply 37 of 83
    drdbdrdb Posts: 99member
    Sony will do the same as they do with all their products and make it a real pain to actually get games onto the thing and massively overprice the thing. I used to have a great Sony Trinitron TV I'd plug my Amiga into, I think that was the last piece of Sony kit that was actually any good.
  • Reply 38 of 83
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,616member
    There could be some truth to this if the PSP platform were actually selling well. It isn't and has been dying a long slow death. If Apple were to be afraid of anyone it would be nintendo with the 3DS. But the current DS platforms seem happy to coexist with the iPhone.
  • Reply 39 of 83
    tjwtjw Posts: 216member
    android 3.0 goodness and a phone that plays games with BUTTONS for use as input... I think this PSP would wipe the floor with anything else in mobile phone gaming...
  • Reply 40 of 83
    ckh1272ckh1272 Posts: 107member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by yeshuawatso View Post


    I don't normally post on Apple Insider as I believe it's for Apple followers, which I am no longer since my iBook died. While I do develop games for both iOS and Android, I try to stay out of you guys/gals conversations.



    However, sometimes you guys post off the wall stuff unrelated to Apple that deserves correction. Your comment about the psp would indicate that you either don't own a psp or you used it 2x and decided your iphone was a better gaming platform. Either way, you're wrong about the UMDs. These little pieces of crap plastic are a total waste as they break so easily you're constantly looking for receipts to try to get the game fixed our returned for another one. I bought the psp for my 8 year old only to find those damn umds all over the floor, outside their protective covers. My son stopped playing the umd games and took the download options instead. No disk, no worries.



    The pspgo is upsetting hardcore gamers because old umds simply can't be played on the pspgo, forcing people to buy their games over again. But this isn't a limitation enforced by Sony, rather by the game publishers seeking double revenue.



    If Sony were to create a psp phone, it wouldn't matter much to the iOS platform because of the barriers of entry that Sony places on their licensees that developed games for Sony's platforms. The cost of the psp and playstation sdks and licenses would drive a indie developer broke. Compare that to iOS, about $1,300 ($100 for distribution, $700 for decent mac mini, $200-$800 for a testing device (optional but recommended)), or Android, about $225 ($25 for distribution, $0 for computer since it's likely you already have one, $200 for testing device), to Sony's $10,000 minimum license per platform and you'll see why this won't have much impact.



    Sure it will be great for Android, but we already have a PSX emulator for high powered phones out of China (where IP is a myth, apparently). The difference is we won't have to question the legality of downloading games from the net or converting over all these old psx discs I have to iso files. But I think this is Sony's way of keeping customers who are growing up and putting the games away for more communication options, that happen to play games too.



    Will this be a flop? Depends on how many psp lovers are moving to the iphone or android for their gaming fix. If Sony's goal is to slow that number, then we won't be able to compare it to iphone or android sales as a whole. You'd have to separate those small group of players that crossed over, and that's a harder thing to measure.



    You totally missed the point of my post. I have had two PSP (1st gen. and the silver scph-2001 model) so there goes your first baseless assumption. My point is that while the PSP/UMD situation was not perfect, they were better than the present mess. Yes they were fragile but that is why I did not let kids play mine. My reason for giving up the PSP was that the 1st person shooters were garbage IMO (never liked the control setup on the PSP for shooters) with the only exception being the SOCOM series. What you fail to realize is that SONY wanted the download platform to emulate what Apple has done. They caught so much hell for UMD (and rightfully so) that they had to make a change. Here's the biggest flaw with the PSPGO though. Say you want to let your buddy borrow a game. You can't without lending your PSPGO. If you have two kids with PSPGOs, then you have to buy the same game (if they both like that particular game) for each system. At least with the UMD PSPs, you could just tell the kids to share and save yourself a few bucks. The PSP used game market also took a big hit as well. Want a used game for the PSPGO? Tough s***!! Let me make this clear. I am not praising UMD. They were slow loading and were fragile if handled wrong but it was a better option than the PSPGO model. I feel that this newest venture will be a fail because of Sony's crazy rules (SDKs for example) as well. Their track record in portable gaming market supports that. All in all, my point is, you made an assumption about me and you were dead wrong.
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