Sony Ericsson president: PlayStation phone "could happen"

Well, this is certainly one rumor that just won't die -- nor is it likely to, not as long as the company has its hands in both manufacturing handsets and game consoles. According to an article in the Financial Times, Sony Ericsson president Hideki "Handsome Dick" Komiyama discusses his struggle to reposition the company as one the world's top three phone makers. Among bright ideas and desperate measures mulled over, the man in charge lets slip that no plan is too crazy or far-fetched to consider. Even a PlayStation-branded phone? "Could happen," he is quoted as saying. And there you have it! Begin warrantless speculation: now.

[Via Unwired View]

[sacapuntas @ May 8th 2009 4:40PM]

why they even bothered to put a drop-shadow on that horrendous render is beyond comprehension...

an interesting concept though, and to think this all spawned from Nintendo hacking of some Sony CEO's...how far we have come.

[sacapuntas @ May 8th 2009 4:41PM]

yeah I know I left one f off of 'off '. T_T

[zephead @ May 8th 2009 4:50PM]

It's also a fail because of stretch-o-vision.

[jaydee @ May 8th 2009 11:51PM]

l337 photoshop skills...

[Smart People Play Tuba @ May 9th 2009 6:51AM]

If they were actually working on one, there's no way Komiyama would say anything other than "no comment." So this confirms that they're not.

[hitsthings @ May 9th 2009 11:03AM]

PHUGLY PHONE.

[Josh @ May 8th 2009 4:41PM]

ewww, better not look anything like that

[edd @ May 8th 2009 4:42PM]

No thanks, SONY ericsson do a shyte enough job of making phones as it is.

[BigD145 @ May 8th 2009 4:42PM]

Needs moar lens flare!!

[BLToday @ May 8th 2009 4:43PM]

Let's see what names we can come up with:
1) PSPhone (obvious)
2) PlayPhone
3) VAIO-Phone
4) UXP
5) Phoneman
6) Walkphone

[sacapuntas @ May 8th 2009 4:50PM]

PSP-M (PlayStation Portable- Mobile)

or if it isn't taken by then and the device has a touch-screen then they could call it the "mytouch" ;)

[Game_playa @ May 8th 2009 6:00PM]

PSM?
PlayStation Mobile

[sweet greggo @ May 8th 2009 7:18PM]

How about "POS"?

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ May 8th 2009 7:25PM]

Go!Phone
Phone Go
PSgP PlayStation go phone
GPSP go PlayStation phone
Silo Sony intelligent liaison operator

or just call it the PS, Phone Station.

[zfurie @ May 8th 2009 10:05PM]

Pedophone?

[loocas @ May 9th 2009 4:47AM]

iPSP

[Mike @ May 9th 2009 8:57AM]

PSPhone - pronounced "P-S-P-hone"

[Foamysking @ May 8th 2009 4:43PM]

i clam if it does happen it will fail in comparison to the iphone but still have better game controls

[Lars @ May 8th 2009 4:44PM]

Pass. I don't want Ericsson in my PSP. I really don't want a monthly fee tied to my PSP. Keep it as a console, focus on games, bring in an open app store.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ May 8th 2009 7:26PM]

No fee's for gaming, PSN IS ALWAYS FREE for every game...

[Muhammad-Oli @ May 9th 2009 1:31AM]

I'm pretty sure he meant a fee for the phone side of things. Like if he was on a plan.

[Matthew @ May 8th 2009 4:44PM]

And yet I would still never buy a sony ericsson phone to replace my golden delicious...

Now if Kraft Macaroni and Cheese were to come out with a phone... THAT would be a different story

[Aarun @ May 8th 2009 4:51PM]

I'd never buy a Sony Ericsson to replace my Red Delicious...

[tobz1000 @ May 9th 2009 12:03AM]

Is there any reason you guys are using apples as phones?

[youngstunna @ May 8th 2009 4:52PM]

thats the ugliest render i've seen in months

[Jarrod @ May 8th 2009 8:50PM]

beat me to it.

[required @ May 8th 2009 4:54PM]

PlayStation phone? No thanks. Service contracts and usage fees are not the makings of fun, they are phone.

[iKurt 5D @ May 8th 2009 4:59PM]

There is no way that Sony can compete with the iPhone in the mobile gaming space. Apple already released a device that is a phone, the best iPod ever, an internet communicator, and a mobile game console. In addition to the rock solid OS foundation that is OSX, Apple leads the way in finding innovative ways to bring mobile gaming to the consumers, with their accelerometer and multi-touch user interface.

[Cosmo @ May 8th 2009 5:48PM]

What a tool.

[sgt_easton @ May 8th 2009 8:31PM]

Listen, Steve, you can take your ball and go home, because we don't care what fanboys say here.

[rawrawrawr @ May 9th 2009 12:42AM]

iKurt: You've never actually played games on any handheld besides the iPhone, have you? The tilt controls and touch screen will always pale in comparison to a joystick and actual buttons. The iPhone wasn't designed for games, people just happened to make games for it.

[Mike @ May 9th 2009 8:50AM]

Sony can't compete with Iphone mobile gaming?! are you on crack? might as well say that nintendo can't compete with the iphone as well.

iphone games are just time-wasters, you play it to fiddle around with your phone, they are like an extra feature for an iphone.
PSP games are actual games you'd want to play. and how hard is it to just add on a phone feature to the psp?

for a company to make a phone and then figure out how to make it a gaming system is much harder for one that has years of experience in mobile gaming to add phone functionality to it.

[StinkyPete @ May 8th 2009 4:59PM]

"Could happen"? Sounds like the same odds for me hitting the PowerBall jackpot. Suppose I should go buy a ticket.

[Clyde Berry @ May 8th 2009 5:00PM]

Hey! You got Sony Ericcson in my PSP!

Hey! You got PSP in my Sony Ericcson!

[Matt Etchells @ May 8th 2009 5:04PM]

why?, the psp is a great hand held gaming device ..aside from the clunky umd drive, but a potential phone? no

sony could of done that back in '04, but for some reason opted for it to be a gaming device only..

in fact if i recall right, there were peripherals designed and built to be used by the sony psp to expand connectivity....mainly the keyboard attachment by logic 3 that never came out due to sony not providing the proper api's and documentation to which is needed to communicate with component and device..

the concept of a playstation phone is not new either, nor is it gonna happen anytime soon...especially with contenders like apple in the ring, to which if sony was to attempt would be like opening a big can of worms..

over 4+ years in existence , 3 different iterations of design and hardware...and seemingly pointless firmware updates..that only in an attempt to curb piracy and quash homebrew.. just give up sony...its gone on way too long

-Mattetch

[Digital1 @ May 8th 2009 5:03PM]

Worst.Render.Evar. But it brings me much delight to laugh at it. :)

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ May 8th 2009 7:27PM]

I thought the same, musta been someone's Three year old who did it...

[mcnugget @ May 8th 2009 8:27PM]

you don't mean that this isn't a real prototype? but it's sooooo coooooool...

[mugupo @ May 8th 2009 5:06PM]

U.S. won't sell well, maybe in Japan and Europe. Phone company here is still in stone age when comes to technology.

[NineT9 @ May 8th 2009 5:07PM]

Id buy it in a heartbeat

I'm not a fan of normal Sony Ericsson phones, but their high end phones are sexy beasts...

Id pay anything for a PSP Xperia :)

[sashoumaru @ May 8th 2009 6:53PM]

I agree with you, an Xperia/PSP should be awesome, but:
- Phone (plan) should be an option, not standard (although almost everybody nowadays have a phone, even kids). The main disadvantage of not making it a phone is the price, unsubsidized phones cost a lot. With a contract they can lower the initial cost.
- It should include wifi, bt, touch screen and a good camera (as the Xperia), & DUAL analogs please.
- Games should be delievered via net (with your collection staying online or offline, so that you don't run out of storage) and/or read-only memory sticks, DUO sized, not Micro nor nano nor whatever smaller size there is.
- Also, a UMD external drive should be available to import your current UMD collection (like they did for the PS2 memory cards on the PS3) and maybe a way to use current PSPs to import the games.

[ohblackjesus @ May 8th 2009 5:09PM]

Excellent Dictators reference

[bespinluke @ May 8th 2009 5:13PM]

will it include blu ray?

[sweet greggo @ May 8th 2009 5:14PM]

This is going to be a fucking disaster.

[TareX @ May 8th 2009 5:30PM]

Translation:

"...In the PSP GO! -2000, we'll add a sim card slot and a virtual dialpad."

[JLRMD2000 @ May 8th 2009 5:32PM]

dam whats up with the render? What happend engadget the photoshop guy is on vacation?

[Guru @ May 8th 2009 5:33PM]

No iphonekiller here!!!

[required @ May 8th 2009 9:05PM]

I agree it looks more like an iphone murderer.

[kurt steiner @ May 8th 2009 5:35PM]

LOL. That's one crappy rendering! :)

[ZZMitch @ May 8th 2009 6:28PM]

What website did you copy that off of?