PSP Causes Sony–Sony Ericsson Split?

There have been rumours about a PSP phone for a long time now, and this and a portable Xbox 360 must make up the majority of the hoaxes that the market sees. However people have been fairly sure that Sony were going to release something to do with the PSP and a mobile at some point in the future, but I hate to disappoint you by saying that we are still no nearer to knowing anything useful about it.

However a nice little piece of information has sprung to the attention of rumour followers like me, and this concerns ‘goings on’ between Sony and its’ half brother Sony Ericsson. Since they began in 2001 Sony Ericsson have been constantly licensing brand names from Sony – such as Bravia and CyberShot – but it would appear that the two sides have had a little disagreement over the PSP.

Sometime last year Sony Ericsson made a pitch to Sony executives explaining why they thought that they should be allowed to use the PlayStation brand name, most probably offering a substantial amount as a license fee. However Sony have refused to let them do so, and this has sparked not only rumours of a possible Sony PSP phone, but of the fractious relationship that the two companies have.

In fact even the latter of them is not all that new; many people have suspected that Sony and Sony Ericsson may not have been best friends having had disagreements about various things in the past. But since this decision the relationship has definitely taken a downturn although unsurprisingly neither side has commented to prove or disprove this.

But onto the PSP phone, what does this mean for that? There are two main possible reasons for why Sony has refused this offer: one is that they do not believe Sony Ericsson are offering enough money or are capable of living up to the brand. The other is that Sony is saving the name for themselves and that they intend to take this forward themselves to get the most out of it.

The latter is probably the most likely, although Sony Ericsson are relatively in-experienced at the top of the smartphone-cum-gaming phone market (the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 really wasn’t that successful) they are still a big name for mobile phones and would almost definitely make a good job of it. Also if Sony were planning to go down the ‘phone’ route then they would probably opt for the more experienced and well established company to see it through.

Given this, the general consensus is that Sony will aim towards a gaming system with phone capabilities rather than a phone with gaming add-ons, which is probably a good idea – I don’t know if you remember the N-Gage but that was a complete failure, clearly Sony want to take handheld gaming seriously when it comes to mobile phones. It will also allow the PSP to access a much wider audience whilst maintaining the reputation and following that it already has.

But please don’t get your hopes up too high, this is probably just Sony covering their future rather than them moving in for immediate action, especially considering that it is not long since the new PSP came out. So that is what could well happen so keep your eyes peeled for the future, and I’ll leave you with a painfully ambiguous quote from a Sony Ericsson spokesman:

“We feel at the moment the technical specs are not high enough to put such a prestigious brand on a phone.”

I wonder whose opinion that is – my money is not on Sony Ericsson! What do you think? Would you like to have the chance of owning a Sony (Ericsson) PSP mobile phone?

Source – TechRadar

Related Pages:

1. Sony Ericsson Aino – A PS3 Compatible Mobile Phone
2. Sony Ericsson Vivaz Mobile Phone Announced
3. Sony Ericsson Aspen Launched – A Green Windows Mobile!
4. Sony Ericsson Experia X10 Mini, X10 Pro and Vivaz Pro Announced
5. Sony PSP2 Rumours?

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