F*** You, iPhone: Skype + PSP = <3
January 6th, 2008 by Heywood
Check it, folks– today Sony announced that the PSP’s next firmware update will include Skype, allowing PSP owners to make cheap Skype calls over WiFi. There haven’t been many details released yet, but the upgrade should be available late this month.
This is obviously a good move for consumers in the sense that it’s a step further toward wireless openness and thus, cheaper calling, but it’s also an interesting step for the PSP as a possible step toward becoming an iPhone rival: an all encompassing communications and media device (once you’ve installed a 3rd party web browser, of course). And with the PSP, you’ve got gaming quality and diversity that an iPhone simply can’t and will never be able to compete with.
Clearly, the PSP can’t be your full-time phone as you’re tethered to WiFi, but at home, school or the office, you’ve got got an extremely cheap VoIP phone. Perhaps we’ll see a future partnership between Sony and members of the Open Handset Alliance? (FYI, Sony is not currently a member of the Google-led OHA.) It seems that in light of Android and other developments, there likely would be demand for a touchscreen, Skype- and CDMA-enabled PSP, should Sony decide to produce it in the future. I’d certainly be interested…
(via Engadget)
