Sunday, August 07, 2005

Thoughts on the PSP

After playing with the PSP for some time now, I think it all makes sense to me now: The PSP is what killed the Clie.

Many theories have been made on why Sony dropped the Clie line. The Palm and PPC fans always like to say "bacause the Clie's crap, no one wants them." I really don't think so. If so, then why did the line live so long? Why didn't Sony drop it earlier? I've always thought Sony is a troubled company, figuring out where's their profits. It's a big complex of thousands of divisions. So it's now cuting the smaller ones (eg. the Clie line) to save money.

But also, I think it's more of a problem of products with over lapping markets. The PSP was actually what the Clie was ment to be: a portable media center. The Clies did what it was ment to do, beautifully. However, labling it as a PDA made it's market limited, since most people don't think of PDAs as media devices. They're thought of as organizers or handheld computers instead, which only business man should need. But the PSP is a gaming device, which would be connect to a reputation of an entertainment hub. And it's also more affordable and acceptable by most people.

Thus, I think Sony must have seen the PSP as the succeeder of the Clie, and much more. Under this stratagy, of course the Clies should be cut and make everybody move to the next big hit, the PSP.

No comments: