If Sony makes a "Playstation Switch" could it succeed?

[KBG29]

Conina said:

KBG29 said:

What do you consider mainstream appeal? We know that at the absolute minimum, with nearly zero support 15 Million people will buy a PlayStation Handheld. With half ass support 80 million people bought a PSP. You actually believe there is no viable market out their for a PlayStation Phone with the full support of SIE? 

People have different requirements/tasks for dedicated handheld consoles and smartphones.

Even most PlayStation fans will think twice about switching from iOS or Android to the PS-OS if some of their favorite apps they use every day aren't available day one on the PlayStation phone (WhatsApp, Instagram, FaceBook, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Skype, GMail, Twitter, Dropbox...)

They will think twice if they carry around a thicker device than necessary to have sticks and buttons ready just in case they want to play something a few minutes occasionally.

No doubt about anything you mentioned there. A PlayStation Phone would not be for everyone that has a PS4. Depending on fashion, it may not work for some as well, do to the size and sticks as you mentioned, even for those that would be interested. It will undoubtlably attract people that are not PS4 fans though. How many is hard to say. There are also 10's if not 100's of millions of people that don't care about apps, or have an attachment to Android or iOS. 

The thing is, a PlayStation Phone would not be a stand alone product. It would be part of the larger PlayStation ecosystem. Thus it doesn't have to sell 100 Million units by itself to be viable and profitable for Sony. Not only that, if Sony is smart they would offer a Phone and a Wifi only unit aimed at those that just want a handheld. 

Sony is only currently selling ~10 Million Xperia devices a year across all offerings. A PlayStation Switch/Handheld/Phone line should be able to match those sales, while making the PlayStation ecosystem an even more viable place for indies and app makers. Sony should be able to obtain a 200 - 300 million strong active userbase if they have TV, Console, Phone, and Handheld all running on a unified OS and Hardware platform. This would be plenty of users to get any essential apps on the platform.

I know some will argue that Microsoft couldn't do it, so how could Sony. The thing is Microsoft took every bad angle they could at Windows Phone. WP took absolutely zero advantage of anything they had created with Windows on PC. It was a brand new platform starting from the grond up. Microsoft has learned from their mistakes, and went back to the drawing board with the Universal Windows Platform. When they decide to get back into the race they will have the entire force of Windows and Xbox behind them. A unified expereince aross all devices.

A PlayStation Mobile/Handheld line built on the same principles as UWP, would have the massive advantage of shared R&D with all other PlayStation Products, making it a very small impact to Sony. Done right PS Mobile devices don't need a huge marketshare to be viable and profitable for Sony. There main purpose would be keeping people in the Sony ecosystem as often as possible, something Sony currently lacks with Xperia and Bravia. Having the 20 million people that buy Xperia and Bravia devices each year connected to their OS and Store is a pure profit driver, and connects them to the customer down to the last 1 inch.