While the majority of the online gaming community has been somewhat indifferent to Apple's iPad (with some higher-ups outright dismissive), others have been taking notes and watching Steve Jobs latest digital salvo with interest.With the promise to help combine several digital concepts into one tablet-style computing device, Apple's latest"i" branded product has many industry analysts rethinking the future of a unified platform. Sony among them.
New Sony portable machines? Potential iPad Killer? All this and more, after the jump!
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company is already hard at work on a new portable device, one that would blend features of netbook computers, e-readers, and the PlayStation Portable (PSP) gaming console. The report also mentions a new smart phone from Swedish cellphone partner Ericsson, one that is "capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games," citing people familiar with the project.
The yet-unnamed multi-functional device would compete with Apple's iPad, infers the report, and is intended for release sometime this year. That Sony would look to parallel the success of Apple in the portable market is nothing new, as several attempts to introduce their own line of MP3 players (most significantly, a rebranded Walkman) have had little effect on the iPod's massive marketshare.
A major factor in Apple's success has been uniformity among their project line, with the one constant being the use of the iTunes service to deliver content to various iPod, iPhone, and (soon) iPad family of devices. One key to that may be the launch of Qriocity (rymes with curiosity), a digital download service that would let users download music, movies, television shows, and even videogames across a variety of friendly platforms. No word yet if the new device(s) will make use of this network for digitital distribution, or even Sony's current PlayStation Network (PSN) service.
While they may put on their happy face in public, there's little doubt that Apple's wildly successful entry into the videogame industry with the iPhone OS (which includes both iPhone and iPod Touch platforms) has come at the expense of traditional market leaders, chief among them industry leaders Nintendo and Sony. While Nintendo has quietly acknowledged Apple's arrival, Sony has taken on the more traditional role of rival by positioning their latest PSP revision, the PSPgo, against a surging iPhone, with a new emphasis on download-only software and the introduction of PSP-Minis (mini-games designed for PSP play).
Unfortunately, the PSPgo was released last year to both critical and commercial disdain, and has been looked on a failure. Whether Sony's rumored platforms will break from the current PSP model of a games-only platform and embrace a multi-format future. An internet-ready, games-playing computer 'device' would certainly be an intriguing addition to the market, particularly if it retains some compatibility with the PlayStation brand. What that could be, like everything else about such a gadget, remains unknown at this time.
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