Comments on: Can Sony click with download store?

By stumbling to get content to the PSP, the electronics giant now has to play catch-up to Apple.

[tell_ron]

They ignore the obvious.

Sony could very easily add a normal onscreen keyboard for the psp, they don't. Insteaad they have this arcane input method. Its been 2 years. The beauty of Apple is that they do the obvious, while others do not. IT s that simple.

[GGGlen]

Just occurred to me...

I never even considered buying a PSP, because I have ZERO interest
in gaming (I don't even want something that has the option of
playing games on it, but my iPod wasn't originally designed for
them)... and the kids that I know who own a PSP, they seem to have
ZERO interest in sitting down with it and watching a movie.

[jelloburn]

haha

That was pretty funny...funny but true.

It's a testament to how poorly researched and marketed the PSP
was.

[Tiger1964]

Sony Will Never Get It

I bought a PSP last November and I have absolutely no interest in gaming. The PSP has one of the most beautiful displays available for a small device. I love to carry around my pictures and home videos to show people. I would never purchase a UMD movie. Too expensive to just watch on a little device when I can rip it from a DVD and put it one the device by myself.

Sony has the perfect chance to turn this little device into a mini computer, if only they would allow applications like a calendar, address book and a few other pda type apps...Unfortunately unless you have an older device without the old firmware you are out of luck in trying to run "homebrew" which essentially exploits the wonderful functionality of this device.

Sony seems doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, anyone remember Beta tapes?

[skeptik]

Not exactly a mistake.

Beta wasn't a mistake. But is should serve as a lesson to companies now so they don't repeat the past, which would be a mistake.
We have the historic examples to show that format wars don't help anyone. Beta is a good example. A worse example is UMD, for which there is simply no rationale excuse.

[eldernorm]

You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or Allow?

Just like Microsoft, Sony exects at the top do not get it, don't want to get it, and won't listen if someone tells them. :-(

Apple is not a God. They, just like Google, took a look at the market, at what people wanted and then did their best to give them that product.

Things that just work. Its a complex world today and I don't have time to be a geek for every new thing that comes out. Make it "Just work".

Nuff said. :-)

en

[skeptik]

ignoring the obvious II

"Some observers said that by offering a disc that would play only on a Sony device, the company was thwarting piracy. Others accused Sony of creating the UMD to force PSP users to pay twice for films. Since the company offered no way to connect the handheld to a television--the same way iPods link to TVs--a UMD movie is prevented from being enjoyed on a larger screen."

Dear Sony/Industry:
Isn't it obvious? We're not really ever going to adopt a "buy twice" strategy. Oh sure, you'll get a few buy anything early adopters - but never a real market segment.
Equally obvious to anyone who tries it: Playing small screen content on a large screen - eh not so good. Sell us the HD disc and let us downscale to our portable devices. Or throwaway the idea that we'll buy anything for our portable devices at all. Manipulating content we paid for doesn't make us pirates, it makes us enthusiastic users. Guess who buys the most product? Enthusiastic users.

Oh and the proprietary format thing? Why would we? Do you really think we're that stupid? Or brand loyal? NOT.

[navsimpson]

Unfortunately...

UMD sales have jumped 35% recently, which is a little baffling to me.

There was mention of Blu-Ray discs coming with a PSP formatted video, but so far, it's been conjecture on forums.

[Stating]

Sony Is Satanic

A freshly decapitated goat. Eating raw flesh. Digging your hands into a bloody carcass. Throwing knives, live snake handling. Topless women cavorting around. If this isn't Satanic I don't what is. Sony is seriously offtrack.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451414&in_page_id=1770&ICO=NEWS&ICL=TOPART
Slaughter: Horror at Sony's depraved promotion stunt with decapitated goat

"Electronics giant Sony has sparked a major row over animal cruelty and the ethics of the computer industry by using a freshly slaughtered goat to promote a violent video game. The corpse of the decapitated animal was the centrepiece of a party to celebrate the launch of the God Of War II game for the company?s PlayStation 2 console. Guests at the event were even invited to reach inside the goat?s still-warm carcass to eat offal from its stomach."

[open-mind]

Blam! Blam!

That's the sound of Sony shooting itself in the foot ... again!

Wow. I guess their goal was to offend women, animal lovers, and Christians all at the same time.

I thought this might be a strange joke until I googled it. Nope, it's pretty much accurate. Supposely, Sony has responded with this attempt at an explanation:



The photograph shown in the Playstation Magazine was one of many supplied to the magazine to provide a balanced view of the event. Unfortunately, the article was sensationalised and focused on a picture that was unrepresentative of the wider event.
The event was a theatrical dramatisation with a Greek mythological theme and, as part of the set dressing, a dead goat was sourced by the production company from a local butcher. Following the mainstream popularity of shows such as 'I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of here' a series of challenges were set for the journalists. The 'warm entrails' referred to in the invitation and in the Mail on Sunday article was actually a meat soup, made to a traditional Greek recipe and served to attendees in china bowls direct from the caterers. There was never any question of journalists being able to touch the goat, or indeed eat the soup direct from the body of the goat, as one report has alleged. The goat was returned to the butcher at the end of the event.

We recognise that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves. We are conducting an enquiry to establish the circumstances behind the event in order to ensure this does not happen again. We also apologise to anyone offended by the article in the OPSM (subscription copies were sent out ahead of street date).

Nick Sharples
Director of Corporate Communications
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

[open-mind]

CNet's Coverage

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9714156-7.html

[ralfthedog]

Goats found it offensive as well.

Did Sony get your goat?

Sorry, Baaaaad joke.

[navsimpson]

Yeah, Sales are Up

http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/feature-the-year-of-the-psp-250775.php