If Sony's goals are anything to be believed, they'll be able to double the number of PSPs they currently have out in the market to somewhere in the range of 6 million units by the time the holiday season concludes. Lisa Baertlein of Reuters says that the Japanese company is poised to do just that, especially given the gadget's multimedia functionality and its decision to target the more mature faction of the buyer populace.
Interestingly, the reports states that one of the reasons why the PSP hasn't sold as well as, for instance, Apple's iPod, is mostly due to its less-friendly controls and interface (although we do think the smaller memory capacity has something to do with that as well). However, thanks to increasing interest from movie studios with releasing their films on the system's proprietary UMD format, and the fact that some of the more, should we say, adult involvements of the handheld have been on the rise, the PSP does seem strongly integrated into the grown-up market (as opposed to Nintendo, which "targets a younger a more female market").
The article also briefly discusses the controversial graffiti ad campaign, but most of it is mired in favorable marketing speak and refrains from detailing the intense negative reactions from gamers and the communities where this campaign appeared.
I don't doubt that Sony will sell a bunch of PSPs this month, but there is more than a bit of truth to the notion that they'll sell a whole lot more if they decided to lower the price, which unfortunately doesn't look like it's going to happen.
[image via tvgame.92wy.com]
