By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sony Discussion - Thoughts on the PSP2 and the future of Sony portables.

joeorc on 29 March 2010
antfromtashkent said:
joeorc said:
antfromtashkent said:
I think that going 3D would be a logical choice.... People will not have to get a 3D TV which is not that popular yet.... plus they are already working on the tech for it.... hopefully

I think by going to the smartphone market would put Sony in a better position than into the handheld market. because if Sony indeed's goes the Smartphone route, they like apple would get included into the handheld market share market without directly competeing with Nintendo.

because that's exactly what Apple is getting right now. they are being counted as steeling market share away from Sony in the handheld gaming market, So Sony may as well go to the smartphone market.

already the PSPGo already has solid state storage , bluetooth, and can already be used as a  skype phone.

it's only a matter of time before Sony goes all in. to make a dedicated PSP cellphone, the only thing i wonder will it be

GSM or CDMA?

Sony tryed the phone market already with less than favorable results :P

not with a playstation platform!

that's not the same as making a java based phone an calling it a handheld gaming machine..

the fact that a dedicated handheld gaming smartphone with 1st party game exclusive's would be quite a seller.

the fact that the PSP has sold so many unit's, a PSN enabled Smartphone dedicated for Playstation exclusive's I think would do very well.

ther's plenty of room in the smartphone market. Android proves that 36+ smartphone's and counting.

like I said:

CDMA or GSM

 



I AM BOLO

100% lover "nothing else matter's" after that...

ps:

Proud psOne/2/3/p owner.  I survived Aplcalyps3 and all I got was this lousy Signature.

Around the Network
masterb8tr on 29 March 2010

playstation phone would be cool.



Procrastinato on 29 March 2010

Sony doesn't care about the blue ocean. They never have. They leave that to Samsung, Panasonic, Nintendo, etc.

The PSP2 will probably not be a "blue ocean" device. That's not Sony's style. They aim for the high quality market, at a premium price, and they rarely deviate from that path.

Because Sony is so focused, and so unswerving in their endeavors, I think you have to look at what the competition is doing to really gauge how well Sony will do next gen.

If the PSP2 is the highest performing, most console-like of handhelds in the next gen... how will it fare vs the iTouch and the 3DS? Honestly I think the 3DS is a bad course change for Nintendo, if it truly is using the expensive fixed-focal-distance 3D tech Sharp invented. Nintendo and expensive aren't really a good match, given their young standard demographic.

Making the DS more expensive is a bad idea. I honestly think the 3DS announcement should have waited another year or so. In that regard, I think the PSP2 will probably perform better, relatively, vs the 3DS, than the PSP did vs the DS. ...but outperform it? Honestly I think the DS (actually the DSi), much like the PS2, will continue to be the handheld mainstay for many years to come... it fits the demographic just right, and will continue to do so, as its price drops relative to the new. PSP owners, I think, are more likely to upgrade to a PSP2, than DS owners are likely to upgrade to a 3DS, just by nature.



 

Khuutra on 29 March 2010
Procrastinato said:
Sony doesn't care about the blue ocean. They never have. They leave that to Samsung, Panasonic, Nintendo, etc.

The Walkman is probably the best example of a blue ocean device in.... well I can't really think of a better one in electronics.



Procrastinato on 29 March 2010
Khuutra said:
Procrastinato said:
Sony doesn't care about the blue ocean. They never have. They leave that to Samsung, Panasonic, Nintendo, etc.

The Walkman is probably the best example of a blue ocean device in.... well I can't really think of a better one in electronics.


The walkman wasn't a cheap device, at the time, and as the device progressed, the Sony version was always the highest quality, and the highest priced. You can't really call it a "blue ocean" device, in that regard. Sony invented it, thus it was popular... when it was copied, Sony stuck with the high-end. Unless they utterly re-invent the handheld, they'll be going with the high-end, and not the blue ocean.

 

Around the Network
oldschoolfool on 29 March 2010
theprof00 said:

SUMMARY: Sony is being choked out of the portables market. NDS and iPhone, as well as other products, ie kindle / iPad are filling in the open portions of the market. The competition is so intense that Sony has lost all the advantages that the portable market is defined by. In order to compete successfully, Sony needs to either compete directly against the competition by releasing a clone, or by trying something completely new.

Details below.

 

PSP is starting to age badly. The console is sold mainly on the games it has targeting the rabid fans of those franchises, ie Monster HUnter, Idol Master.

Originally, the thing that made consoles and portables explode was that they had marked advantages over the competition. Consoles delivered gaming for a quarter of the hardware price and 100% more reliability without requiring any upgrades to core components. Portables did the same but with consoles on the recieving end. POrtables were cheaper, had all the same advantages of consoles vs PCs, but were, at first, a twentieth the price of laptops, the only other portable systems.

Looking at the market now, netbooks, cheap laptops, and smart phones have taken the place of the laptop vs portables. Using the Iphone as a basis for comparison, a portable gaming console now has no real advantages. The Iphone doesn't need upgrades, it always performs reliably, is affordable, popular, and also sports the advantage of being a phone too. Also, with the release of a new app called Line2, for 15$ a month, any iphone (or even IpodTouch) can have a phone line with an 800 number and makes calls over the internet for free.

So, what to do?

Nintendo has the right idea because they are taking a product (3d) and making it so accessible, without the need of glasses, and cheap, that it is going to swallow a big portion of the 3d movement. That is their new advantage. However, they also have the benefit of huge 1st party brand recognition, and a reputation for making great games.

However, Nintendo doesn't have the advantage of being a phone. So the way they stand, Nintendo is on one end and the iphone is on the other. From the Sony perspective, there is really no room unless they do somethign completely new, or engage in red ocean with both of them. However, there is nothing really new that they can do. Anything they can think of, software wise, can be done on the Iphone, and gaming is stronger on the DS. The only avenue is new hardware, or stealing 3d.

One particularly interesting idea I've been throwing around is a shades based console, similar to the one used in Heavy Rain. A pair of sunglasses and a glove could be amazingly accessible and has a lot of potential for improvement. Additionally, if the hardware was engineered well enough, multiple people could play on the same system, using different pairs of glasses and have a truly unique experience with it.

This could be easily done at a low price without any problems if it is engineered correctly, and it would open up a completely new market. It also has many distinct advantages over the others.

However, barring a new hardware type idea, the only option Sony really has is to steal the 3d idea from Nintendo, shamelessly, and compete directly with them. This is because not only is Nintendo going to disrupt the console 3d market, but psp is in a position now where it is being choked out of the portable market. However, if looking at Nintendo for the past three years has taught them anything, it's that Sony needs to compete directly with Nintendo in the future and stop allowing them to take new markets...because pretty soon they will all be gone.


It's time for them to come out with a completly new psp. If at all



Procrastinato on 29 March 2010

The sharp 3D screen idea is a really bad one for a handheld, actually. Nintendo isn't so dumb as to include that tech in some new expensive handheld that has to be held a specific distance from your face to work.

All the 3DS will have is much nicer internals, and a gyro/accelerometer. Those are cheap, and Nintendo has plenty of experience with them, at this point.



 

Khuutra on 29 March 2010
Procrastinato said:
Khuutra said:
Procrastinato said:
Sony doesn't care about the blue ocean. They never have. They leave that to Samsung, Panasonic, Nintendo, etc.

The Walkman is probably the best example of a blue ocean device in.... well I can't really think of a better one in electronics.

The walkman wasn't a cheap device, at the time, and as the device progressed, the Sony version was always the highest quality, and the highest priced. You can't really call it a "blue ocean" device, in that regard. Sony invented it, thus it was popular... when it was copied, Sony stuck with the high-end. Unless they utterly re-invent the handheld, they'll be going with the high-end, and not the blue ocean.

Right, it was high-priced, but it was priced low enough to serve a market that nobody else was catering to. That's kind of the definition of blue ocean: a place where there's no competition. And when it came out, the Walkman had no competition whatsoever as a truly portable, discreet music player.



Procrastinato on 29 March 2010
Khuutra said:
Procrastinato said:
Khuutra said:
Procrastinato said:
Sony doesn't care about the blue ocean. They never have. They leave that to Samsung, Panasonic, Nintendo, etc.

The Walkman is probably the best example of a blue ocean device in.... well I can't really think of a better one in electronics.

The walkman wasn't a cheap device, at the time, and as the device progressed, the Sony version was always the highest quality, and the highest priced. You can't really call it a "blue ocean" device, in that regard. Sony invented it, thus it was popular... when it was copied, Sony stuck with the high-end. Unless they utterly re-invent the handheld, they'll be going with the high-end, and not the blue ocean.

Right, it was high-priced, but it was priced low enough to serve a market that nobody else was catering to. That's kind of the definition of blue ocean: a place where there's no competition. And when it came out, the Walkman had no competition whatsoever as a truly portable, discreet music player.


I guess I would argue that there is no blue ocean in the handheld market, any longer... or rather, if there is one, Sony will have to discover it, and it can't include the iTouch demographic or DS demographic or PSP demographic, or at least has to be significantly larger than those demographics to qualify. I guess I was referring to "Blue Ocean" as in "mass market appeal", which is how it was being referred to, in previous elements of this discussion. Sony devices rarely have mass market appeal, because they are usually the "high end"... that was my point. Sony isn't shooting for marketshare, per unit, they're shooting for marketshare, per revenue dollar.

 

Khuutra on 29 March 2010
Procrastinato said:
Khuutra said:

Right, it was high-priced, but it was priced low enough to serve a market that nobody else was catering to. That's kind of the definition of blue ocean: a place where there's no competition. And when it came out, the Walkman had no competition whatsoever as a truly portable, discreet music player.

I guess I would argue that there is no blue ocean in the handheld market, any longer... or rather, if there is one, Sony will have to discover it, and it can't include the iTouch demographic or DS demographic or PSP demographic, or at least has to be significantly larger than those demographics to qualify. I guess I was referring to "Blue Ocean" as in "mass market appeal", which is how it was being referred to, in previous elements of this discussion. Sony devices rarely have mass market appeal, because they are usually the "high end"... that was my point. Sony isn't shooting for marketshare, per unit, they're shooting for marketshare, per revenue dollar.

That is a fair way to look at it; I admit that I cannot say how Sony is going to approach this, or that I have any articular idea about what to expect.