Sony Turns Playstation Into Mobile Gateway
(06/13/00, 7:32 p.m. ET) By Yoshiko Hara , EE Times
TOKYO -- While the Playstation 2 gaming platform is fashioned to support broadband network services, Sony Computer Entertainment is giving the original Playstation a new role as a platform for mobile phone networks.
"Playstation has sold 73 million units in the world," said Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony (stock: SNE) Computer Entertainment. "We believe that it still has a large potential. We are going to offer it by remaking it into a new form."
The company will introduce a new model of Playstation, named Psone, that is about one-third as large but has all the functions of the original. PSone will hit the Japanese market on July 7, and North American and European markets in autumn.
A 4-inch TFT display attachment will be offered next spring to support mobile applications.
Sony will introduce a connection cable for a controller port this fall that will ready PSone for mobile services. As with the latest Playstation 2, the controller port will attach the Playstation console to mobile phone networks.
Sony will initially support connections with NTT DoCoMo's mobile service, and will eventually expand coverage to other carriers.
To prepare its first-generation system for mobile use, Sony will have to take Playstation through a metamorphosis by next spring. Once connected to mobile phone networks, the company said 17 million Playstation consoles in Japan could form a communication platform that reaches into a third of Japanese households.
The company will offer new applications that utilize the mobile connection, and at the same time expects third parties to bring new services to the platform.
Mobile phone sales in North America aren't growing as explosively as in Europe or Asia, but mobile Playstation features could change that, Kutaragi said.
"Allowing the game console to be carried from room to room and in-car use [will make] mobile phone connections important in North America, too," Kutaragi said.
The current Playstation model will be discontinued once PSone is introduced to market, Sony said.
"We are going to sell a total of about 8 million units of Playstation and the succeeding PSone in one year," Kutaragi said.
PSone is slightly bigger than a portable CD player, but the initial models will not be battery powered.
"Game users would not be happy if they see a 'low battery' message halfway through a game," Kutaragi said.
For now, PSone will be powered for in-car use by the vehicle's battery. Battery operation will be available when satisfactory battery capacity is developed, he said. |
