The interesting thing often repeated is the circular logic that a new Playstation Portable can't be successful without being the equivalent of a high end smartphone, because that is that only thing that would justify the cost of a $600-700 Playstation handheld game platform.
Nobody appears to be aiming for the low hanging fruit of a sub $300 handheld (which is no longer top end spec), which approaches the realistic ceiling of what the general consumer would be willing to pay for a portable game device. I don't buy the notion that Playstation would create the market for $600-700 gamer phones, which would remain a small niche product.
But naturally, the logic follows that if you tack a phone service onto a PSP, then it can and will sell for at least twice the price with the corresponding high end specs available to the smartphone market. The monthly service/data fees are about the only thing that would allow for high end specs (and corresponding price) unless the goalposts are moved so that Sony can either sell such devices at cost or at a loss.
That will not happen. It's a bit hard to follow that logic.
Yes, a high end smartphone with a monthly service/data plan fee sells for that price. Check. The assumption is that there would be enough general consumers who would switch to a Sony branded (sorry: Playstation branded as the argument follows that the PS brand is strong, not the Sony brand) smartphone, that will presumably be sold with Verizon, Sprint, AT&T phone and data service options as Sony doesn't own their own network and phone service.
Playstation (Sony) couldn't even sell Playstation fans on the 3G service, which had less to do with data speeds, and almost everything to do with Playstation fans not wanting to pay for 3G data plans in exchange for the limited benefits 3G data plans provided for games. I say this as first day PS Vita buyer who insisted on buying the 3G model, only to stop paying for the data plan because it added nothing in functionality for me as someone who was already using a smartphone. And no, I wouldn't have ditched my iPhone if my PS Vita had a phone number I could use for work.
I don't doubt there's a market for a $700 PSP. What those $700 PSP Phone pundits aren't being entirely honest about is the small size of such a market that would make such a consumer device a poor business decision for Sony. Or Playstation.
I wouldn't buy one, and I have bought everything Playstation since the original Playstation (PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, PSV). I certainly wouldn't replace my phone with one.
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