Sony Ericsson expands PlayNow arena to cover apps, too

It looks like Sony Ericsson is taking a page out of Apple's book for the launch of its app store, bundling the service in with the very same platform it already uses to distribute music and movies. PlayNow arena -- which was originally designed for music distribution and whose movie rental functionality is going live this month in a handful of locales -- is now being expanded to incorporate applications as well, initially coming to 13 countries and some 38 Sony Ericsson models. Conveniently, PlayNow arena is already well-plumbed to support a variety of blling methods which should make the transition to paid apps a pretty seamless one for the company, devs, and users alike. Submissions from developers for inclusion in the store will kick off July 1, initially covering Java and Symbian before being expanded to cover "additional platforms" (Android, anyone?) later in the year; there's no word, though, on exactly when end users will be able to get in on the action.

[superhobo Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:23PM]

Nice. I've had 3 SE phones, but I never used this.

[Verythrax Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:26PM]

Me also.

maybe by "other platforms" they meant they own "dumb"-phone OS, with apps and games? THAT is something I would use.

[superhobo Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:28PM]

No, the dumbphones are covered by Java. What else can they run?

SE joined the Open Handset Alliance(Android) in October, so they're probably working on one.

[Barbaric Posted Jun 3rd 2009 5:13PM]

I've had 3 SE phones... latest being the w760a, from AT&T in the USA. I debranded the phone, got rid of the crappy AT&T firmware and loaded the original SONY ericsson firmware- so its a w760i. I was so happy to get the PLAYNOW icon on the menu, then found out there is no support for it in America. So unless SE plans on bringing the service to the states soon, its useless to me.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:25PM]

""It looks like Sony Ericsson is taking a page out of Apple's book""

they said it not me

[superhobo Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:29PM]

Playnow has been online for a long time. Maybe Apple stole a page out of SE's book, changed it to apps, and SE is taking it back.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:48PM]

iTunes was introduced by Apple Inc. on January 9, 2001

playnow was introduced in February 2004

[superhobo Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:57PM]

Playnow runs from the phone, you don't need a computer for it.

iTunes?

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:57PM]

the same

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 3rd 2009 4:00PM]

who cares ... i was just restating a comment that all you apple haters would shred
but i guess as long as Chris Ziegler writes it, no complaints

[superhobo Posted Jun 4th 2009 8:15AM]

Nah, it's just that most people don't care about Playnow, even SE fans :p

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:31PM]

It wouldn't really work, sony have too many different types of phone with very different designs in UI.
They would have to seperate apps for certain phones only, which sucks.

Unless Sony ericsson can keep their UI consistent, then this should work

[Gorilla800lbs Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:38PM]

PlayNow has been around for a long time -- just not in US.

[ndrwme Posted Jun 3rd 2009 3:40PM]

Well this sure seems pointless. Apps stores need to be taken care of my the OS developer, not the device OEM.