Fri, Mar 28, 2008 | 12:31 GMT

PSP is a ten-year product, says Koller

In an interview celebrating PSP’s third birthday, John Koller, senior marketing manager for the machine, said he sees it being around for a ten-year cycle.

“We’ve talked about the PSP being a ten-year product, but a ten-year product in the continued… lifecycle,” he said. “So we obviously had the 1,000, we have the 2,000, so the PSP as it was first launched in March 2005 isn’t going to the be the one that it ends up as in ten years, but it will still be a very strong portable gaming device that is centered in gaming and has a lot of multi-functional features.”

Koller added: “We look at it just like our console business being a ten-year cycle, but we do see iterations as we go along to really adjust to the market… The 2000 series adjusted to the market in terms of making it more portable. What we’re seeing now, at least in the near- to mid-term, is going to be firmware updates that add features and other functions that the consumer’s asked for.”

With recent events suggesting PSP could get some serious competition from iPhone, it will be interesting to see what Sony can do to its handheld to keep it fresh in the coming years.

By Mike Bowden

1 comment

Killerbee
27/03/08, 1:00 pm

10 year is, I presume, a reference to the hope and expectation that the PSP will have the “long tail” sales and market share of the Playstation and PS2, right?

I’d certainly expect PSP2 to be launched around the mid-term point in the PS3′s lifecycle so that Sony can balance its marketing and promotions focus, if nothing else. They don’t want PSP2 being a distractions from the PS4, do they?

But as much as I agree with the intention, I’m not entirely convinced that the PSP – right now – has the software library to follow up the PS1/PS2 success stories. It may yet get there (Crisis Core looks like being a good next step), but it’s still a long way behind the DS in terms of providing a good portable library of games.