Report: Sony refuses use of PlayStation brand for PSP phone

by Griffin McElroy on Jan 17th 2009 6:15PM

Rumors of a PSP-infused phone (or is it a phone-infused PSP?) have been circulating since the dawn of time -- we figured if anyone would be working on this Frankenportable, it would be Sony Ericsson, the beleaguered mobile phone branch of Sony Corp. However, if a report from UK cellular phone industry news site Mobile Today proves accurate, we've been in the wrong this whole time -- according to them, Sony Ericsson was recently refused the use of the PlayStation brand by their parent company. A fairly sick burn, if true.

The story, which comes from several anonymous "sources close to the matter", claims that Sony will only license the PlayStation brand if and when Sony begins making handsets independently from Ericsson. A Sony Ericsson representative wouldn't comment on the report, but did say that "technical specs are not high enough to put such a prestigious brand on a phone."

[Via Pocket Gamer]

Source

Tags: psp, psp-phone, sony, sony-ericsson

Reader Comments (71)

@ Heyyou27

"It is Verizon's policy to not allow Wifi in cellphones on their network."

Since when? My HTC XV6800 can toggle to WiFi without a hitch.

the first place I saw that list with ???? and PROFIT was here, but any meme like that HAS to have started from /b/.... where did it originate???

Second, I would still bet my money on AT&T. I don't think T-Mobile or Sprint have any money left from their deals with the G1 or the upcoming Pre, and Verizon most likely wouldn't care because they just got the Storm.

Though, none of that would matter I guess, because a PSPhone would be a long ways off.

It started with South Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(South_Park_episode)

@No wifi:
Samsung Omnia?

I agree with their decision, it just doesn't seem like the time for Sony to be taking such bold steps

i doubt anyone would have the balls to do that, especially because it could easily fail in this economy.

If the PSP phone ever becomes a really, 10 yen says it's in Japan only.

Uh oh, trouble in paradise.

it goes "two tickets to paradise"

I just don't know about a PSPhone. They would pretty much have to reduce the screen size, which would hurt many games. Controls would probably be put on a side sliding panel, like the keyboard on the AT&T Tilt, G1, whatever, and that would take up too much room for the ever-growing-in-popularity qwerty keyboard. If they included a capacitive touch screen, the keyboard could be virtual on-screen I suppose. The other good point someone else had is that it probably wouldn't have the room for a UMD drive. Sony sounds like they are done pushing UMD, but it would be near pointless to put out a PSP unit without the UMD. Backups and downloads aside, they are just asking you to hack it and pirate games at that point.

Having said all that, if they pulled it off well and it had a great UI, I'd probably buy one XD

Sony Ericsson isn't long for this world.

This is very simple....in such a varied and over-whelming market with cell phones and smartphones, the chance that a new product to fail is likely.

Thus the reason Sony does not want to have the Playstation name hindered if it were to fail miserably.

Does anyone else think nice little track balls would work better than the thumb sticks on the next psp?

No because trackballs don't have as much adherence (although maybe perhaps only for the right one for directional accuracy).

Sony are well to flabby a company as it is, so it's for the best that they forwent another product launch. Personally, I'm not to big a fan on convergent devices, most features too half baked judging from past experience, so I probably would have manufactured some reasoning to dislike it.

Well if the PSP phone is released they could always tap in to their PSone library since i still enjoy a lot of psone games on my psp. But honestly i dont think its always a good idea to join a phone and a handheld device because of the battery especially when an emergency comes and your down to ust 1 bar.