PlayStation Phone: Sony speaks out

Sony has discussed how it may bring a PlayStation Phone to market - and even hinted that an iPad-style tablet might not be far behind.

Stopping short at confirming the existence of a PS Phone, Sony executive VP / CFO Masaru Kato said that a gaming phone would be planned and prototyped under Sony's Network Services umbrella - involving work from both SCE and Sony Ericsson.

Speaking in an earnings call, Kato also hinted that Sony could be creating a rival to the iPad.

When asked about Engadget's pictures of what it claims is the PlayStation phone, Kato said:

"As for the new PSP product, as mentioned, I know that you are not asking me to tell you when we will be coming out with a new product, but there is a gaming market based on [the] cellphones, and there are many changes that are being seen [with] Nintendo, as well as ourselves, in the field of the product for the gamers. And there are smartphones and others or even cellphones gaming markets are very popular here in japan. So the market itself is very... expanding," said Kato through an interpreter.

"It's not that we are not looking into those markets as well. We will look into those markets in trying to develop strategy for the future. Of course, we can't talk about specific products, but smartphones and tablets... it is difficult to tell you how we can put the games on them, but they are not going to be planned in different parts of our company. When we organized ourselves last April, we introduced network services, and within that umbrella, network services, all of these products are handled. Therefore, the planning and the prototypes for various content [are] all carried out within this... one umbrellas. So we are trying to figure out what we can do as Sony in this market. I think this is as far as I can tell you regarding these products at market."

He added: "There [are] so many different elements. There is Sony Ericsson and there is SCE. They moved from Aoyama, the design and headquarters had to come to Sony City. Of course this contributes to savings on rent on an office... but they are [also] closer to the planning and engineering group of Sony, and I think we can better incorporate all of these capabilities better... so when the timing is right we can probably announce [to] you about the new product that we have."