Viewpoint by Marley Malenfant/se news editor
It’s 2010, and Sony wants a piece of the mobile pie.
On Oct. 26, Sony announced its plans to release a smart phone either by the end of the year or early 2011. Sony’s smart phone has a close resemblance to its PlayStation Portable console.
Sony’s smart phone is ambitious, but with the iPhone leading the pack since 2007, are consumers willing to try something else?
According to AppleInsider.com, the iPhone is projected to sell 36 million phones worldwide, a 40 percent increase from 2009 estimates.
The obvious catalyst for the phone is the games.
Details on the phone aren’t yet clear. Sony should keep in mind that PSP users may want to play games or watch movies they own on the mobile device.
With more than 100,000 applications for Apple’s iPhone, it’s hard for any new cell phone provider to compete in this market. But Sony has more experience and success in gaming, which gives it a spark when the phone releases. If Sony can have some of its popular games of the past and current systems available for downloads, Sony has a chance to compete in a crowded market.
The battery life of the phone could be a killer for Sony. Smart phones need the capability of running multiple apps. The iPhone 4G lasts eight hours, and the Droid phones get up to 10 hours of battery life. Sony consumers don’t want a cell phone that can run multiple features if the previous cell phones have more battery life.
Sony’s best advantage over the iPhone and the iPad is control buttons. Sony is smart for sticking to what it knows. Apple’s touch-screen technology may leave users short-handed. Playing games with a touch-screen phone can be hard for users who have large fingers or just don’t like the idea of playing on a touch screen.
By the time Sony’s phone is out, the company is either fashionably late or just wasting its time. Better late than never.
