Sony Europe boss: PSP due November 2004

In an interview posted on Sony's official PlayStation site in the UK, Sony Europe's newly appointed president, Chris Deering, further nailed down the launch date of Sony's potential Game Boy Advance-killer, the PSP. While it had been previously stated that the new handheld device would be released at the end of the year, Deering got specific. "The target date for its global launch is November 2004," he said.

Deering also commented on the upcoming European launch of the PSX, Sony's multifunction set-top box. He addressed increased consumer interest in personal video recorders, saying, "They've got amazing reviews from people who use them and who understand them, but the mass market still hasn't quite caught onto that." He hopes to change that with Sony's PSX, capitalizing on its user-friendly UI. Said Deering, "Online interactive use of television is in its infancy… PSX makes that [functionality] all very simple with a fun and easily understood navigation system, which is the core of it really."

In the interview, Deering also mentioned that the lessons learned from the PlayStation might be applied to all of Sony's product lineup: "The success of PlayStation has been noted, obviously, by senior management in Japan." But Deering made it clear that the PlayStation business would remain autonomous, adding, "PlayStation is heavily reliant on software sales, software creation, third-party relations, and third-party royalties. The business model for PlayStation is not the same as a hardware-only model."

The http://uk.playstation.com/features/featureStory.jhtml?linktype=FT3&storyId=104929_en_GB_FEATentire interview can be read on Sony's official UK PlayStation site.