Sony's "global" connectivity plans within 6 months
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Feb 27th 2007 at 9:30AM }
The BBC is continuing their coverage of Sony's portable wonder. "The rise of the handheld console" talks about Sony's currently failed ambitions to market the PSP as "the Walkman for the 21st century." With nearly 25 million consoles shipped, the PSP has "impressive figures, but still not enough to reverse Nintendo's market dominance."
It appears that Sony's future with the device is connectivity with anything and everything, by using the PLAYSTATION 3 as the PSP's media hub. "We're hoping to incorporate that functionality [Remote Play] in the very near future - from a local level at the moment to a global level probably within the next six months," said Jonathan Fargher, a spokesman for Sony. "If I have my MP3 Walkman or my iPod, or digital camera connected to PS3 then I can access those devices too."
And the timeline for these plans? "We're hoping to incorporate that functionality in the very near future - from a local level at the moment to a global level probably within the next six months."
See also:
BBC talks to famed homebrewers Fanjita and Dark_Alex
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alien @ Feb 27th 2007 10:18AM
What about the only PSP owners . I will probably own sooner or later a PS3 or some other next-gen console , but still , many people will own only a PSP , and what about them . We want the same things to you know ( especially PSone games ) .
spir00 @ Feb 27th 2007 11:02AM
Is this the March 7 news we been waiting for?
Oh no, it was to be good news for psp owners.
Ok backwards here. Can everybody say backwards!
So Sony's time and effort is spent on how people can control other devices with the psp... Through the PS3. OK, how lame....
I guess the psp is now market for ps3 owners.
Control a mp3 player with a psp. Really, who would want to. Doing this will have an effect on sells for there pro duo cards. Now they making it so theres no need to buy bigger pro duo cards.
Whats next, stream video from ps3 to the psp? Throw away that locationFree you invested!
They should have named the PSP 'PSP3exclusive'.
But they wanted everyone to buy it.
This is the new PSP everyone has been talking about.
This is the next gen PSP.
Stef Geiger @ Feb 27th 2007 11:55AM
I like my PSP and my PS3, and I like Sony, but I just don't see the big appeal to this "global connectivity" concept. How often is ANYONE going to find it practical/worthwhile to access the content on their PS3 remotely? First off, you'll need access to a decent AP, you'll have to have left your PS3 in remote play mode, and you'll need to have already put video/audio/pictures on the HDD in preparation for accessing it remotely. And don't forget that the video you put on the HDD will have been encoded to mp4 or mpeg 2, and the time it takes to do that, you might as well convert it and throw it on to your PSP's memory stick. To me it seems like a cumbersome and useless capability. I'm sure it'll be cool for the novelty factor for 10 minutes (much like the current remote play functionality).
Am I alone here?
Thomas @ Feb 27th 2007 12:29PM
The PSP needs to be able to stand on its own without the PS3, however, Sony needs to tie them together, because they need to get people to buy PS3. The psp is the greatest portable gaming device... however it can't outsell the DS. Sony needs to price drop the PSP, get people to buy the system, then make products to get them coming back. Nintendo gets their customers to buy the same system 3 and 4 times over.. gameboy advance, gameboy color, gameboy sp, then micro... Price drop the psp, then do a redesign with an hard drive added... or with a slimmer version. Sony always waits until the end of a system life to comeout with a redesign, but they should do it during the system's hey day to get more people to buy double like Nintendo does... but you can't do that when your product is almost twice the price of the competition.
Dadidito @ Feb 27th 2007 1:26PM
Shame that they are tying everything into the PS3. The PSP needs to have this functionality by itself. Not really fair to expect to force you to buy a PS3. I personally don't have, want , nor care to ever own one. The PSP though I have stood by buying games, accessories and appreciating for what it is.... yet what do I and thousands of others who only want the PSP... nada... nice sony. Another reason I own (and love)360. PSP is the most thoughtout handheld IMHO ever created. Sony take advantage of it!
required @ Feb 27th 2007 2:24PM
I don't think Sony understands the fact that I will never buy a PS3.
I love my PSP and would love these features, however I think they could and definatelly should be available without their PS3.
Firemouse @ Feb 27th 2007 3:09PM
Sony is just never going to get it. they still think people will get a second job just to be able to get a ps3. in their minds it is unfathomable that we don't want a ps3. To them they're doing us PSP users a favor by incorporating ps3 functionality. That hubris is going to continue to alienate PSP fans as those without a ps3 are continued to be treated like they don't exist.
and they're NEVER going to get that.
navsimpson @ Feb 27th 2007 7:00PM
While I understand people's hesitancy, I kinda' think being able to access a few gigs of music or video from my PSP across the 'net is a really cool idea. It's also inevitable that paid video content will be coming for both the PS3 and PSP - being able to download some episodes of Seinfeld (owned by Sony) onto a PS3 and then watching them from wherever I have internet access seems exactly the sort of forward-thinking move that Sony needs to make to sell the idea of the PS3 as a media hub.
If they do it right, they'll create a low-power-use mode on the PS3 specifically for this purpose and will also include Blu-Ray movies in some fashion as well (i.e. miniature versions of the movies encoded for the PSP). I guess I just see the potential upsides of this idea.