A New Attitude for the PSP

By Teschia L. Blakley

Since the birth of the PSP, the world has had its share of mobile entertainment. iTunes, iPods, Sidekicks and Blackberry’s are just a few mobile entertainers to pounce the fingers and thumbs of people around the world. In recent news, the PSP has not only made ground breaking sales in various markets, but Sony plans to give their diva a few upgrades that can blow some of its competition out of the water.

When the PSP first launched in 2005, Sony’s main focus was the gaming capabilities and the UMD movie format. Playing games on the PSP came as a breeze being that its older brothers and sisters still has the competition on lock with the PS, PSone, PS2 and soon to be released PS3. Offering game play in a crystal clear 3-D format and a selection of games that Xbox 360 still can not match, marketers and consumers knew that game play for the PSP would be no problem. Watching movies on the PSP was not that great with a small selection of movies that included “Hitch” and “Chain Reaction” that were not even worth paying $19.99 for the DVDs. Also, the annoyance of fans not having the ability to download music and videos via the internet made the music and video capabilities not stack up to other competition. Every little nitch that the PSP possessed is scheduled for a change as Sony plans to pump up the volume for the PSP this fall. Some of the upgrades include a Global Positioning System (GPS), a camera with a built in microphone and the ability to download videos and music via the internet.

The GPS will be a great addition to the PSP and will defiantly bring a new entourage of customers. Products such as OnStar, Tom-Tom and RoadMate have created a market within its own and have also made traveling a little more popular. Having the ability to play games, listen to music, and map out your favorite pizza spot will be very convenient for any road warrior. A built-in camera has been the savvy for cell phones over the past couple of years and this fall PSP users will have the ability to take a snap shot of their favorite pose and also add a few lyrics to their photo with the built in microphone. Another addition to the PSP will give users the ability to download music and videos to their portable without having to purchase UMD format movies or going through the agonizing process of first converting your file then uploading to a folder on the PSP memory sticks. Sony does look at this upgrade from memory sticks and UMB format via internet downloading as a downfall as far as copyright and piracy goes.

John Koller Senior Marketing Manager for the PSP said in a recent interview about piracy that, “Sony is in the process of trying to determine how to deliver digital content like music, and movies directly to the PSP. Our biggest issue for the company has been the Digital Rights Management and how we can secure that content to the memory stick. The PSP gurus are gathering a similar system as Apple computers has done for iTunes. Sony has plans to carry out its own online service or connect through a third party service to deliver the best music and videos for its customers.”

I was a bit skeptical when the PSP first launched for the lack of marketing and support for its other features such as music and video downloads, which made me pull back from purchasing the sleek handheld, but with the bump in upgrades and the GPS tracker…I may have to take advantage of this fall’s price drop.