Is a PSP Phone just make believe?
It seems that Sony Ericsson’s adoption of the make.believe tag line has prompted at least some commentators to call again for it to release a PSP Phone:
But Sony Ericsson’s only real hope for the long-term may be a PSP-branded phone that leverages Sony’s traction in the video game space. While the market for gaming-centric phones is questionable — see Nokia’s history with the Ngage — such a device could prove popular with a young, data-hungry mobile set. And it would be a better investment than a branding facelift.
There’s clearly potential, as one of my colleagues, Brad Hagedorn noted a couple of months ago:
The potential for a PSP phone is clear when we compare the iPhone & iPod Touch’s growth with early sales of the PSP
Global growth of the iPhone, iPod Touch and PSP
Calling the iPod Touch a comparable, if less gaming centric, match to the PSP we see that their early growth is quite similar. What is interesting though, is the gap between iPod Touch and iPhone + iPod Touch sales, which represents sales of iPhones. Since the iPhone is essentially a Touch with phone capabilities, this gap is the oppotunity that Sony may be missing out by having a PSP, without having a PSP phone.
