A PlayStation Phone needs to be made. Sony's phone division is absolutly worthless, and relying on android is taking them down the same dead end road they followed with Vaio and Windows.

They have an amazing network and a great mobile OS on the Vita. They already have great app support on PS4 and Vita, both of which would see a huge boost if they made a real PlayStation Phone.

Many say look at Microsofts failure to capture market share from apple and google, what would make a PlayStation Phone any different. I say look at what Windows phone is. Windows phone is built on the same useless slab platform as every other android and apple device. Why would anyone change from one limited touch based device to another?

With a PlayStation Phone, Sony would be bringing the first new idea to the mobile market since the first iphone. Sony could also stop making a, b, c, ...., Z phones that are all just clones of each other,and actually start making phones that reach different audiences.

The perfect mobile plan for Sony going forward would be to offer a multitude of form factors to reach gamers, casuals, and buisness. A PlayStation Phone in the current Xperia Z form factor, a slide phone design, and something similar to the current Vita would be the perfect combo phones. Then the expanded range of devjces should offer a nvidia shield like form factor, a larger tablet form, and the PlayStation TV.

Sony should follow the same plan as they have with the PS4. Develope a platform that is the ultimate in simplicity. Give the development community something that they can bring apps over to with extreme ease. Then make sure they to offer some of the best compensation in the industry to develope for the platform. Make everything cross over to PS4 with little to no work, and create an ecosystem that ties home and mobile PlayStation together to make it seamless for the end user.

There is plenty of room for PlayStation in the mobile market. Sony needs to get focused, and building the PlayStation ecosystem is the way to do it. Right now they are battling themselves with the PlayStation ecosystem vs Xperia Android ecosystem. One needs to die, and it needs to be the one that is lossing them billions, nkt the one making them 100's of millions.

App store?

It would be a secondary (or third) store front for the PlayStation Store. Think PlayStation Mobile, except it matters. 

Not sure what this means?

PlayStation Store has an App section on PS4, PS Vita, and PS TV just like Apple and Google.

Google and Apple store have millions of apps.  Things like Shazam, calculators, pedometers, calculators, movie theater finders.  They're made for Android or Apple ios. The PlayStation devices have what? 40? Less? Would anybody bother making their apps for a PlayStation phone if they had to wait for it to take off?

And i want free multiplayer back on the ps4 but it will never ever happen like the phone you want

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...

I have been saying this for years!! It's so frustrating! Since before Android existed, back in the PSP days I was saying it. When there were rumours just before the announcement the PSPgo I was like, finally! But it wasn't a new system at all.

Vita definitely should've merged mobile and game support at launch. When will they learn that people don't want to carry around two different devices that can easily serve the same purpose! Why go with a lower resolution, lower powered device, when you can just buy one device for both need? This would've been so much easier for them if they started doing this before Android was a necessity.

I guess they're not very serious about using their experience with games, and their position in the mobile market to gain advantage in both areas. If phones had the power of PlayStation built in, I think they could seriously compete with Nintendo portable devices. Playstation is the one that needs to go mobile. I don't understand why everyone is screaming for Nintendo to go mobile when they don't even have any experience in that market, and love making their own unique devices with fun features.

So much truth here. I know the Ericsson partnership is the reason we never saw a PSP with phone capabilities, but with the Vita there is no excuse.

When Sony bought out the mobile division 2012, I was sure they would have a PlayStation Phone out within a year, but instead they went with the me too Xperia Z series. Now they have a mountain to climb if they ever want to gain any ground in the mobile industry. PlayStation is the only answer to ever coming back to any sort of relevance in the mobile market. Xperia is a dieing brand, and it is going to continue to loose sales and increases losses until they either sell it, or merge it into PlayStation. 

As I have said so many times before, it is absolutly illogical to be pushing the PlayStation OS and PlayStation Store at home, while pushing android and google play on the road, or worse releasing stuff like PS Vue and PS Now for amazon or apple before either of their own platforms. Sony needs to focus the company on one ecosystem, and build the idea that if you own a Sony/PlayStation device it will work seamlessly within the Sony ecosystem. 

I think that would be a pretty solid strategy. Too bad Sony doesn't seem to see the potential of branching out it's PlayStation line.