PlayStation phone shows promise, but execution is vital!

Tony Cripps, Ovum principal analyst.

AUSTRALIA: “Sony Ericsson’s new Android 2.3-powered Xperia Play smartphone certainly packs a punch on the hardware front – especially its 60fps, 3D-capable Adreno GPU – but there’s potentially a lot more riding on this device than its ability to bring high-end gaming to the smartphone space.

“Unlike previous Sony brand extensions to mobile, which were rather more utilitarian in outlook – such as Sony Ericsson’s music and media-oriented Walkman phones and Cybershot camera and imaging-led handsets – the PlayStation brand has much more of a tech savvy, connected and leading edge image.

“As such it represents perhaps Sony’s greatest opportunity to re-establish itself as a leading brand in the connected and (more especially) the “extended” home market. Here it was a pioneer but the company has looked increasingly flat-footed in the wake of more aggressive – and, critically, more software savvy – rivals in the broad space such as Apple, Microsoft and increasingly Samsung.

“The Xperia Play clearly needs to capture the imagination of gamers on its parent company’s PlayStation console – especially in terms of creating shared experiences across TV and mobile gaming. But it must also tempt the wider smartphone-buying market with Sony’s vision of a joined up, multi-screen applications and content experience beyond gaming.

“Success could help re-establish Sony (and Sony Ericsson) as pioneers of new technology-led user behaviours and use cases. Failure could see the once-leading consumer electronic brand become an also ran in an increasingly vertically-integrated world.”