Sony planning PS3-electronics connectivity, PSN expansion

CEO Sir Howard Stringer says console will soon have online connectivity to range of products, including mobile phones; PSN being primed to take on Xbox Live, iTunes.

At the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony first took the wraps off Remote Play, a function that would allow PlayStation 3 owners to wirelessly stream music, videos, and games from their consoles onto a PlayStation Portable. A local version of the functionality was introduced in March as part of the PS3's v1.6 firmware update and was further enhanced to allow access via the Internet as part of November 1.8 firmware update.

Today, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer told an audience in Tokyo that Remote Play is only the beginning of the PS3's external connectivity. The Bloomberg news service reports that the Welsh executive--the first Western-born CEO in Sony's history--said his company plans to eventually link up the PS3 to mobile phones and a range of other unspecified electronics. The specific mention of phones resurrected longstanding rumors that Sony is readying a PlayStation-branded phone much like its Bravia TV-branded Sony Ericsson mobile.

The drive for mobile phone-to-PS3 connectivity will be part of Sony's next three-year business plan, which starts on April 1, 2008. That date also marks the start of Sony's next fiscal year, which Stringer predicts will see a massive expansion of the PS3's online service, the PlayStation Network.

"PlayStation Network next year puts us in the direct line of fire with Apple and Microsoft," Stringer told the Reuters news service, obliquely referencing iTunes and Xbox Live. He also dropped hints, which reinforced previous Sony statements, that the year would see many assets in the company's massive content portfolio appear on PSN. "On Friday, we had a dinner where the heads of Sony Electronics, [Sony] Pictures, Sony BMG, and Sony PlayStation were all at the same dinner table intermingled and actually communicating," he said.

668 Comments

  • gocanes222

    Posted Jan 4, 2008 4:25 pm PT

    Yes, Nice Sony. They are really working at improving our content and making the PS3 an even better buy. Forget Microsoft and the Xbox 360. It may have better games right now but just wait. I've played both and the PS3 is just better and they are doing even more to make it even more better. I'm so excited to hear these kind of things

  • bailzan

    Posted Dec 16, 2007 4:36 pm PT

    People really need to stop complaining about the price of the PSN content in the US versus in Canada. Whats the point of it? Its not like Playstation is a US based company that cares about the improvement of the Canadian dollar. If you want to complain about it why not complain about it comparing it to the price in British pounds or maybe you could even compare it to the price in Yen. Granted all of this would require people actually doing a little research to find out what games cost on the PSN in other countries and maybe its just easier for people to complain. Maybe I should complain that I'm paying $5.99 for a game that only cost 600Yen. "Man I should only have to pay $5.27 not $5.99" But then again I do know that companies don't set prices in one country based on the prices in another country. They do this little thing called market research to determine the MAXIMUM they can charge for the product/service and still sell it. As to the idea of a PSN Phone I love it. I love my S-E phone (w950i) and if there were one that offered enhanced connectivity to my home network via the PS3 I'm all for it.

    PS. stop complaining about a lack of FREE demos. The US side of the PSN already gets more demos and more frequent content updates that the H.K. or even the Japanese PSN, so please for the love of games stop whining like children.

  • other44

    Posted Dec 16, 2007 4:33 pm PT

    sweet!

  • Hester6

    Posted Dec 15, 2007 11:51 pm PT

    Playstation Phone?

  • MasterChief725

    Posted Dec 14, 2007 7:10 am PT

    yah, they need expansion all right...a lot of it..

  • Agermemnon

    Posted Dec 14, 2007 5:53 am PT

    PSN needs more GAMES not pointless crap pffffffffffffffffffff just shows you where sonys heads at still .

  • ChrisMitchell

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 5:27 pm PT

    That sounds stupid, what they need to sell the system more is more exclusive games that are A+ titles, they lost Grand Theft Auto, Ace Combat (now exclusive to the Xbox 360), and a couple more (that I cant think of right now). That and they need more content on there PSN and demos of all there mini games, not just a select few. It is sometimes the little things that really matter to the games. Stop boasting it as a media devise and start focusing on the games. Also fair pricing would be nice too, I got an email today from Sony listing there new content and it's prices, I am a Canadian and the prices are quoted in USD, our dollar is higher than the USD ($1 CAD = approximately $1.02 USD) and Canadians are being charged between 20 and 30 % more than Americans. The Free Trade Agreement works both ways you know Sony!

  • tomadonxl

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 5:25 pm PT

    The funniest part about alot of these comments is that most of the people hating on Sony are the same people who are gonna be buying PS3s next year. Just like how the last 2 consoles started out and became the 2 of best selling home consoles ever. PS3 could get that far but its up to Sony.

  • jaredrichards3

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 4:41 pm PT

    This is why people should be patient with sony, they are getting their sh1t together and are taking it to the man!! psn will match xbox live in 2008 -2009. I hope this kinda thing makes the ps3 into the great console that it is. imagine a gaming console world dominated by Microsoft............................scary isn't it!!!!

  • ctg867

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 3:45 pm PT

    Microsoft = phail. They announced Live Anywhere at E3 2006, and since they all they've done is bring out Games for Windows on Vista, which sucks and does little for the consumer, and have one cross platform game, Shadowrun, which was way over priced and not even that good. I have Vista, and I want to have a friends list thing on the side of my screen without having to buy a stupid GFW PC game and go into that. I just want a little tab like AIM or something that lets me send/receive voice/text messages without using xbox.com or any third party crap, and they can't even do that. How about actually getting achievements into more then a whopping total of 3 PC games.

    And in half that time, Sony has gotten crazy amounts of PSP - PS3 and even some PC - PS3 connectivity. And now they're gonna get it into their electronics. Wow Microsoft, you disappointed me. Love the software and the online, hate everything else.

  • TOMBRAIDERHADI

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 2:33 pm PT

    hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

  • Some_One_Plays

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 2:17 pm PT

    Some_One_Plays To: Vodoo, Yuck_Too, or anyone else

    SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment Association) and the accutal Sony company are two different things. Sony themselves don't make games but SCEA are founded by Sony that do research / development, production, and sales (software / hardware). Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony Ericsson and Sony Financial Holdings. All these companies are different and handle different things. Do I need to explain any futher or are we cool, lol? (my recycled comment, history just loves to repeat itself)

    It's kind of like having a butler the butler isn't rich it's the people paying the bulter.

  • powerframe8

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 12:50 pm PT

    so friggin happy i bought a ps3 nowww. and my cell phones 2 years old. so eventually ill need to buy new. and thats when the sony-gaming phone will hopefully be released. and boom, ill look like a giant sony fanboy.

  • soulsearch11

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 11:17 am PT

    joeyfine

    as long as sony doesnt charge me to play online im all for whatever they do.

    Its mentalities like this that keep PSN in the distant shadow of Xbox live.

  • Scubei

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 9:53 am PT

    In Japan everything is bundled through your cell phone. If you can name it, you can do it on your cell. Sony is banking over there and that's their plan over here. Think about it. Not every PS3 owner has a PSP. But they more than likely have a cell phone. Just to get it straightened out folks.

  • AvtoC

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 9:39 am PT

    the cell phone thing is great I've been thinking about a thing like this since Summer 05

  • eViL_kA

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 9:20 am PT

    Come now. How is improving the PSN negative?
    Just because they are working on this doesn't mean that everyone else within SONY has stopped what they are doing, to work on this. That is why they have different departments within the company. It also doesn't mean that they are putting the games second to "media widgets". "Media widgets" however are obviously faster to develop therefore they will be heard about more often than "____ has gone gold."
    The cell phone thing sounds silly to me but improving the PSN to a level more on par with xboxlive is a good thing for any gamer. you don't have to be a "rabid fanboy" to realize that. No, a "rabid fanboy" would actually be trying to put a negative spin on good news like this.

  • LucasNadolny

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 9:16 am PT

    im tryin to stream video from my ps3 to a cell phone. thatd be awesome

  • FreddieGermany

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 9:14 am PT

    2008 is sony

  • Agermemnon

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 9:02 am PT

    I predict the next thing will be turn on and off you're ps3 and psp via their next line of mp3/4 players and yet still serious lack of content on PSN .

  • Homerj

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 8:38 am PT

    More technical widgets and gimmicks. When will Sony get the clue that the reason why they are getting hammered in this gen is because of CONTENT issues? They can add media features till the cows come home, but they will remain a distant fourth (I am including the PS2 in this, as games are still being actively produced for it, and the numbers from Sony's last gen console are still massively hammering its current gen console) until they figure out that the media widgets have to be secondary to the GAMES. Sony cant expect to do much more than hang onto their most rabid fanboy core by a thread if they dont do something about the quantity and the quality of their content. Simply conceding that the hardware has severe limitations for high end applications (Nintendo didnt seem to have any problem becoming the dominant player in this gen after mattter-of-factly admitting that their graphics just cant compete with the 360) might go a long way to attracting 3rd party devs by dispelling unrealistic expectations that lead to massive delays and inferior ports.

  • Chonsie

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 8:20 am PT

    Why in the he** would I want to call my PS3 from my cell phone? Theres no one there as it is!

  • Agermemnon

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 7:49 am PT

    They need to increase the content eg demos and vids on PSN thats for sure as xlive makes it look very barren , hey Sir Howard Stinger how about less pointless connectivity/multimedia and more content ?

  • Vodoo

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 7:25 am PT

    Some_One_Plays: MS does make games themselves... it's called Microsoft Games Studios. And I believe Sony has their own game studio as well. But I see where your trying to come from with that statement, you just didn't word it properly. There are different groups within the one company that do different things. The group in question is the hardware arm, people responsible for making, maintaining, and updating the console itself. The software group is responsible for the games.

  • joeyfine

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 7:24 am PT

    as long as sony doesnt charge me to play online im all for whatever they do.

  • Zauster

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 7:19 am PT

    I like the idea and its not all copycat stuff which is good. BUT shouldn't sony be worried about selling more PS3's and making better games at the moment, instead of expanding what the PS3 can do?

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 6:46 am PT

    Game-o_O spends a lot of time frothing and not a lot of time backing his case. Microsoft aren't backing HD disk media. Why? Because we don't need it! Nobody is interested in buying £30 HD films, when the DVD equivilent is only £10. Right now, Dual Layer DVDs with 9Gb of storage are enough to run the latest games and allow developers space to improve in the future. Mass Effect, in fact, only took up 3/4 of the 9Gb of the DVD's they're written to. Halo 3 likewise. All the big mega-selling games aren't taking up the full space and don't need it.

    Sony is just trying to sell the PS3 in order to promote Blu-ray and win this platform war. It lost the Betamax war, so it's trying again. Their heart is not where the game is. This, as has already been proven, is losing them this console war, as well as landing them with $1Billion of debt. They recently sold a load of Cell processors to Toshiba, to try and soften the debt-well they're stuck in.

    That's not viral rumour spreading, that's fact.

  • mystagigglez

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 6:45 am PT

    its funny how people (gamers) put themselves up on pedestals as if companys such as SONY dont know what the hell they are doing.

  • sunn_kunn

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 6:40 am PT

    *sighs*
    I like the idea of the PS3 being an amazing media hub!

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 6:39 am PT

    --Some_One_Plays --
    You have made some strange comments before but saying Sony and MS do not make games is one of the more out there comments.

    Aside from 1st part developers that are are wholely owned by them they also both have their own full blown dedicated development houses.

  • Delongman

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 6:23 am PT

    Buy the Sony Pla... the Sony Mediastation 3 for now only $399 and get the above MEDIA functionalites soon!

  • diablusx

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 6:02 am PT

    If Sony really wanted to be "in the direct life on fire with Apple and Microsoft" they sould do two things. The first is get some deals made with phone companies like Sprint or Verizon. This will help get exclusives and bring more people to either a PS3 or PSP if they can use them to connect. The other is get Home to actually work. The videos look nice but an actual working version would help alot.

  • Truf89

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 5:57 am PT

    errrrr.....okay

  • badman11226

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 5:53 am PT

    All im saying sony have no more excuses for next year. Im still a sony fan well ps2 fan. Next year can they convince me to buy their system and its not looking good right now. They just lack games. Next year games list look good well only MGS4 that it. DMC4 and Grand theft auto obvious well sell more on the 360. Its like the PS3 is more entertain system than a video game system. 2008 Sony put or shut the frack up. And you sony fanboy need to stop itching if sony cant hold their own coconuts.

  • jocaju

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 5:45 am PT

    I don't get it; people still to this day keep saying that PS3 & PSP has no games? It's clearly that you don't own neither of them, there are many GREAT games for both systems and 2008 promise to be the best year for PS family.

  • swollenmember89

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 5:44 am PT

    wow... game O-0 is so right...haha MS doesnt care about blu-ray or HD-DVD they just back HDDVD so that Blu-ray doesnt win the war...eventually MS plans to own the market with digital downloads.

    amen...

    more convenient to boot.

  • Some_One_Plays

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 4:44 am PT

    To: Everyone Uneducated About Sony

    Some_One_Plays: I don't think people realize that Sony just makes the tools and the services. Sony themselves don't make games developers do. The Halo Trilogy wasn't made by Microsoft it was made by Bungie. The actual Sony company can only make the online service better that's why this isn't about games. Do you people realize that now if you want to hear about games go to a developer's site. If you just want to hear about the company's plans all you're going to hear are services / features. I just find it so weird that people say Sony needs to make better games. Sony never made a game before yet they buy companies that do make games. Do you get it now? (my recycled comment)

  • tyler0077

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 4:07 am PT

    Jesus Chirst Sony! Just concentrate on getting and making better GAMES, not the superfluous crap like this, nobody cares!

  • Gally66

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 4:00 am PT

    can't be a bad thing, right.

  • gam3r3OOO

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 3:02 am PT

    Too little too late.

  • andrew_ribbons posted Dec 13, 2007 2:30 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    andrew_ribbons

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 2:30 am PT (hide)

    I'm sorry to sound like a fanboy here, but Microsoft have already beaten Sony to it. Quite a long time ago really. I've heard the PS3 can't handle having VoIP conversations at the same times as games or movies; you have to stick to the chat page to talk... MS have just released Movie Rental Download services to many places in Europe and Canada as well. We have a decent friends tracking system. We have a decent downloads library. We get regular updates for the system and our games. We get multiple ways to share content.

    To be honest, comparitively, Sony Entertainment Corp's offerings are meagre and boring. In 3 years? Xbox Live will have evolved and improved further still by that time. Sony will still be considering releasing Movie Rental Downloads in Europe...

  • PhilElsen

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 2:04 am PT

    this better work.

  • 345669

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 1:24 am PT

    Less Talking Please, Just deliver the content. PSN is ok but it needs more functionality, hopefully soon. . .

  • Taylor_Riel

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 12:20 am PT

    I think this is a continuation of Sony's original plan for the PS3: Continued Evolution of an Entertainment Platform.

    The PS3 is not a Video Game System. It is a media convergence hub. Considering the technical advances that have been made since the PS2 was launched (widespread aceptance of WiFi, Bluetooth, Hi-Def entertainment and High Speed Internet) it makes sense to intergrate all of these from the start into one machine. That looks like a good launch product to me.

    Sony did the right thing and focus on the hardware first, so all consumers who started off with the product benefit from improvements down the road - unlike owners of the first Xbox 360 who don't have WiFi, HiDef, etc, etc. Then they can take their time to roll out services (including video games) and make sure they do it right.

    Sure label me a fanboy. But I'm just a very satisfied Sony product user. Last Christmas I got a PSP. I use it in the Winter months (when it's dark out) for gaming, music and CNN video podcasts to stay uptodate - all on one frigin device! In the summer I got a Sony Ericsson W610i and got the same deal: Talk, Text, Music, Games, Photo's, Video's, etc. etc.

    The reason why I'm a fan is that these "toys" still look damn new even after a lot of use.

    My main complaint with Sony is the lack of convergence within their own organization. I was using their online music store "Connect" (until they emailed to say it's closing down - KO for itunes) yet I couldn't transfer my Connect songs to my Sony Ericsson. Dumb. Hopefully this new CEO can bash some Execs heads together and all the various Sony divisions can be compatible with each other.

  • Khoo1992

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 12:07 am PT

    I want PS Phone!!!

  • trickyspider

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 12:06 am PT

    wohoo dats nice... i wud like to buy one of those phones... dats kul... bt yea unless sony makes a operating system it cant be in direct line of fire wid microsoft... bt its algud.. i like pc and ps.. cuz without pc i wont be on here...

  • hassam7

    Posted Dec 12, 2007 11:43 pm PT

    Sony hitt'n on big plans 2008 is da year!

  • StoneManOne

    Posted Dec 12, 2007 11:23 pm PT

    I'll wait to see what Sony ACTUALLY delivers not just talk about these proposed services. Also what about GAMES!!!!

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