14 DAY TRIAL // It was about time Sony had plans to deliver a downloadable service for the PSP, enabling users to access video and audio files, much like Apple's iTunes service. Tretton isn't afraid that the market has been tapped on this segment already and is confident on a downloadable services' success, as NextGeneration reports:
"I think the advent of a long awaited and quite frankly long overdue ability to deliver a downloadable service for the PSP will help us out a great deal," said SCEA president Jack Tretton. "Hopefully we'll have it out there by the fall."
Wow, this fall, huh? But really now, isn't it just a bit too late for this? What, they hope to sell some more PSPs with this? OK, whatever, but what about that new and improved PSP. No word since two months ago when Sony announced plans for it. Wouldn't a service like this make more sense for a new handheld, to ensure its sales? I don't know, I'm just saying...
But one thing is for sure though: the PSP is a marvelous piece of work and so thinks James McQuivey, a Forrester Research analyst, in an interview with CnetNews.com:
"The thing is, Sony could have been all this," McQuivey said. "The Sony PSP is one of the best portable entertainment media devices that anyone has come up with in years. It has a relatively big screen, plays video beautifully, has good storage and audio. It could have been the first big mobile carrier for TV shows and movies."
OK, let's see it implemented and we'll see how it goes, but again, a downloadable service such as this would have made more sense for that PSP2, and since there's no word on it, I doubt we'll see the likes of it by the middle of 2008.