I need a PlayStation Phone

[OdinHades]

I can actually see this working. But Sony would have to act EXTREMELY aggressive. First, they need a mobile phone that downright outclasses the whole competition to show off games you can't play anywhere else. That alone is a hard thing to do considering how crazy fast Apples processors have become. It's not impossible, but very hard to do.

Secondly, they will need the most popular apps right from the start. That includes stuff like Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and so on but also popular games like Candy Crush. People want those on their phones. If those apps aren't there, people will not be satisfied. So Sony has to pay the devs of those apps for versions for their own phone. Which will be crazy expensive.

The OS needs to be absolutely flawless. The timing would be right, more and more people are seriously disappointed by androids instabilities and just lately, we see a small shift towards the iPhone because of that. In some areas even windows phone gains marketshare quite heavily (It's above 15 % in germany I think). A new competitor with a virus-free OS that runs smoothly 99 % of the time could really stir things up a little.

They will also need some special features, something that blows peoples minds right after the first announcement. That could be some crazy innovative hardware, never before seen software or I don't know. Maybe an exclusive deal with Nintendo? Just something that really generates attention for the thing. It needs to be EVERYWHERE. Not just in ads, but also in articles in every major newspaper and so on. Make sure people can't possibly avoid it.

The device also needs to be crazy cheap. If it costs as much as an iPhone, people will buy the iPhone. For a long-term success, Sony needs to sell the phone way WAY below the price of the materials itself. I'm talking 99 $. They could make up for these huge losses with heavy licensing fees, something like 50 or even 60 % of the sales price of software. They could also just bundle the phone with every PS4 or something, just for the install base to grow.
The install base needs to be absolutely MASSIVE. Anything below 100 million and the device will be a complete failure.

So all in all, it is not impossible to pull it off. But it would be risky as hell! Even with the best plan ever, you don't want to mess with Google, Apple and Microsoft at the same friggin' time! You never know what those Behemoths of companies will do, they could sabotage your strategy pretty easily. So you also have to take into account that you would need to be flexible, changing your tactics pretty much on a daily basis. You also need deep DEEP pockets for a stunt like that. Something that Sony doesn't have right now, I'm afraid. Also, you need heavy workpower. Sony pretty much would have to use all of their own work power for their new phone, which would hurt other areas quite significantly. No more first party games for PS4, sorry, we need to make games for the PlayStation phone! If everything doesn't work out as planned, all hell would break loose for Sony, it could even mean their bankruptcy.

I don't think Kaz is crazy enough for something this ambitious. If Krazy Ken was CEO however...