Sony

Geohot vs Sony: what it means for the iPhone and iPad Jailbreak community

By Allyson Kazmucha, Sunday, Jan 30, 2011 a 10:26 am

For those who haven't been following it, iPhone Jailbreaker George Holtz (Geohot) is being sued by Sony for hacking their PS3. It's not new for companies to take action against hackers. Every time Apple updates iOS they try to close Jailbreak exploits and they even lobbied the US government to try and make sure Jailbreaking wasn't granted a DMCA exception (Apple didn't get their way and jailbreaking was given an exception.

How Apple's Steve Jobs out-Sony'd Sony

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Jan 29, 2011 a 4:23 pm

Interesting article over at SFGate detailing how Steve Jobs studies early Sony product development culture and Zen-like approach to design:

"It was very nearly fetishistic, in fact -- he even had a collection of Sony letterhead and marketing materials," laughs Deutschman. "Sony was a company that Jobs instinctively admired and saw as model from the very beginning. So it's been an interesting transformation over time, to see Apple supplant Sony as the center of the consumer technology universe."

Sony announces touch-friendly PSP2 (NGP) and PlayStation Suite -- could it come to iPhone and iPad?

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Jan 27, 2011 a 9:13 am

Still surprising if not a surprise, Sony has made the decoupling their PlayStation games from PlayStation hardware -- like the new PSP2/NGP -- official with the launch of PlayStation Suite. Android is the only other platform targeted right now (which makes sense given Sony Ericsson's Android phone investment) but could the 160 million install base strong iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad iOS platform come online in the future?

Google eBooks start going live for iPhone, iPad

By Allyson Kazmucha, Monday, Dec 6, 2010 a 11:32 am

The long rumored Google eBooks service appears to have gone live today... somewhat. The service allows you to not only read books on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, but on the web or on Android phones, Nook, and Sony devices. The iOS webpage boasts over 8,000 titles already available for download.

The only problem right now is the fact that the native app isn't currently available for iPhone or iPad yet. (I'm getting the "The item you've requested is not currently available in the US Store" error but we'll update when that's sorted out.)

PlayStation Phone... is an Android app?!

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Dec 3, 2010 a 11:55 pm

Engadget continues to rake in scoop after scoop on the "PlayStation Phone", which I deliberately place in quotes because it looks like what should be the PSPhone, the next technological marvel from the company that once brought us Walkman, is actually... an Android app.

No, that's not a joke. The PSPhone or PlayStation Phone or Zeus or whatever Sony ends up calling what should be their premiere mobile device runs on top of Google's Android platform. Android 3.0 Gingerbread to be precise.

That's awesome for a whole lot of reasons. It's a huge boost for Google and fantastic news for Android enthusiasts who want great gaming on the platform. (At least for those who are willing to use Sony Ericsson's version of it.) It's great for Apple iPhone lovers because strong competition breeds a better market for everyone. Who knows, maybe someday they'll even make a PlayStation app for iOS too. (I don't think they will but that won't stop me from dreaming about God of War and Grand Turismo on my iPad...)

It might even be great for Sony in the sense that it avoids them having to write a telephony stack and Smartphone OS from scratch, something they've never seriously undertaken on their own (they've previously used Android, Windows Mobile, and Symbian). It probably gets them to market faster, especially considering how slow to market they've been. (The iPhone was released in 2007, the App Store in 2008, and the PSPhone won't hit until 2011. That's positively glacier in modern terms).

Steve Jobs: iPod touch more popular than Nintendo DS and Sony PSP combined

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Sep 2, 2010 a 8:57 am

Yesterday during Apple's annual Special Music Event Steve Jobs announced that the iPod touch was more popular than both Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP... combined. Jobs also said more than 1.5 games and entertainment apps have been downloaded by iPod touch devices to date.

However, as every gadget and gaming blog has since pointed out, while iPod touch has sold in the mid tens of millions of units (Apple doesn't often break them out), Nintendo's DS series has sold 132 million all on its lonesome, so take this with a "biggest mobile company" type grain of salt.

[Engadget, thanks also to Freaknasty]

iPhone live podcast 113: Who reviews the reviewer?

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Aug 19, 2010 a 11:32 pm

Verizon rumors explode, would you switch? Could the iPhone replace your wallet? Sony and Android teaming up to take on iOS. Apple reviewers making fart apps? And what's the deal with iAds? Line up for your podcasts now, folks, this is iPhone live!

New Sony PSP ad takes aim at iPhone

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010 a 8:09 am

Sony has released a new ad for their PSP gaming system and it takes aim squarely at Apple's iPhone and iOS gaming.

"That [iPhone] ain't built for big boy games", the latest PSP spokeskid, Marcus Rivers, says to a goofy looking guy playing "Lame Castle". "That's built for texting your grandma and calling your girl."

Rivers then shows off a few older, $9.99 catalog titles, and calls the goofy guy to drive home the $9.99 price point before hitting the tag line: "step your game up."

Obviously this acknowledges the growing competition from iPhone, especially the low price point of iOS games.

And since goofy guy can text grandma, call his girl, and play great new games without having to lug around a second, gigantic device -- one that's still bound to physical media and hasn't seen a real hardware update since before Marcus was born -- it might not be a winning strategy for Sony. (That Android PSP phone, however...)

Video after the break. Does it make any of you want to carry around an iPhone and a PSP?

[Ars Technica]

iPhone is 3% of handset unit volume, 2x profit of RIM, Nokia, Sony combined. iPad next?

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2010 a 10:54 pm

While iPhone accounts for only 3% of handset market share by unit volume, Finacial Times reveals some Goldman's numbers that show it's set to capture a stunning 2X the profit share of Nokia, RIM, and Sony -- combined.

Game Developers Like iPhone More than Nintendo DS, Sony PSP

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Feb 6, 2010 a 9:12 am

According to Game Developers Research, their new study shows the iPhone platform is more popular with game developers than either the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. Electronista sums up:

Demand for the iPhone has surged to where about 19 percent of all game developers are writing for the iPhone and iPod touch. The figure is more than twice as high as for the DS and PSP and results in three quarters of all mobile game developers writing for Apple's handhelds.