The Playstation Vita: Where Did It Go Wrong?

[KBG29]

SlimShadyDroid said:

1) They tried that already and failed.... miserably

When? Do you mean the Xperia Play? If so that was never a Playstation Product, and did not see one Playstation game ever hit the device. It had no access to PSN or any of its additional services.

2) Those components would cost a lot

No more than a regular hi-end smartphone. It could easily be on contract with AT&T, Verizon, Sprit, or T-Mobile for $200 down, and a two year contract. Even then they would be racking in major profits on every one of them. The actual bill of material on something like a galaxy note or iphone is only around $250. A PS Phone would be right on that range.

3) Sony's Xperia phones aren't making any profit and aren't popular by any means (look at the iPhone, Galaxies)

The phones are making profit, the issue is, they over valued the brand when they bought out the joint venture. That is why they had to do the $2B one time right down. As for the popularity of the Xperia phones. They are doing great in Japan and EU, the problem is that they have only ben on T-Mobile since the buy out. They finally made it to Verizon with the Z3. If they can secure deals with Sprint and AT&T with the Z4, and put out a big marketing campaign, they can do great. Z3 and Z3 Compact are consider by many the best phones of 2014. If they can repeat with the Z4, then they will have pleanty to boast about.

4) They brought remote olay to the Xperia line up (Z3/Z3 Compact). It's still quite cumbersome because you still need a DS4 Controller

And that is why a PlayStation Phone in the Vita's Form Factor would be great. I have a Z3, and have given the remote play many chances. Like you said, it works great, but only if you have a DS4 with you. Due to those complications, I leave to Z3 at home, and use the 3G Vita with Skype for gaming and communicating on the go.

5) Phones are crazy expensive, especially where carriers don't subsidize them

Again. Phones are rediculously over priced. Sony has many options with this kind of device. They can make huge money selling it like the current model for smartphones. In that case it would be a non issue. Or they could sell it at near break even levels like a dedicated console, and profit through PSN.

6) Who's going to advertise the thing?

If they partener with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint in the US, then they will have plenty of people advertising it. With partenrships like that, you get Walmart, Best Buy, Car Toys, and any other company out their trying to sell phones marketing the device.

7) Bettery life will suck, and it'll be crazy thick. People don't like thick phones.

Why would the battery life suck? Sony has amazing battery tech. With my Z3 I can stream youetube music videos 10 hours a day, and stream to a Bluetooth headset and still have 15% left when I head home. If I just stream Music Unlimited, with the power saver feature on I end up with 70%, and that is still checking facebook, browsing the web, or watching Netflix, Crackle, or Video Unlimited on breaks.

On the thick phones part, I am not sure what the majority want. For ages people wanted the smallest phones possible. Now that they are very usefull, people want the biggest screen possible. I personally, think people would like thicker phones if they knew how much more battery life they could get with them. I also think that the added functionallity of the PS Phone would outweigh the draw backs in the eyes of someone looking for a gaming phone.

8) Just to throw another wrench into this idea, Sony is looking to sell their smartphone business, just like they did with their laptops (Vaio). Sony just doesn't have the money to take these crazy risks anymore and will try to sell anything that isn't making money.

True, there has been some rumor about Sony selling their phone buisness. How would that effect PlayStation though? Wouldn't that only make a stronger case for a PlayStation Phone. Then it would not be in direct competition with another branch of the company. I think the best thing they could do is roll Sony Mobile Communications into Sony Computer Entertainment. This whay they could use the experience of the Xperia team, the partenerships, and all of the patents to their advantage. Plus they could continue to make smartphone form factor device to attract the less gamey audience to their OS and Network Services.