Last year, Sony sold 3.82 million of its little handheld wonder, the PlayStation Portable. An impressive number until you compare it to the 8.5 million units Nintendo's DS was able to move. They are numbers that should cause Sony and its investors some alarm. But what's the reason, and can the company turn the outlook around? In this two part series we point our fingers and laugh at the mist-steps as well as offer a few very viable solutions for getting the handheld with so much potential into more people's hands.
1. Bring it Down.
The easy answer, to the first question at least, is price. While it may seem overly simplistic, price can't be discounted as simply the poor man's answer.
When it was originally released and placed next to the DS, the sexiness and heft of the PSP alone could have been considered justification for the almost $100 price difference. It looked like the successor to the iPod while making the plastic DS look like a dual-screened gimmick.
Now, set side by side, against the sleek new DS Lite it looks like an overly expensive also-ran minus a touch screen. With the PS3, Sony has shown it isn't shy about selling hardware at a loss and making the PSP more price competitive should be something the big company really considers.
2. Change it up.
I want my electric blue PSP Vision with the second analogue stick.
In an informal poll, calls to a handful of local gaming stores showed us an interesting trend - of all the original NDS' s traded in, every clerk we spoke with estimated that 80% or more were handed in (at a significant loss) as credit against an upgrade to the DS Lite. Considered objectively however, without any real change in functionality, can the move from an original NDS to an NDS Lite really be seen as an upgrade though? In the minds of the impulse consumer, the answer seems to be a very loud "Yes!"
But what did the same informal poll reveal about the PSP 2001? Of the 5 stores called, only one clerk new of a single PSP turned in for trade-in credit against the upgraded PSP.
How does one make sense of this? The NDS Lite's sported a new form factor and radically different colors than the simple faux silver of the original. In addition to that, the new moniker clearly defined one of the main differences between the original and the redesign and made it compelling.
Sony, on the other hand, quickly dropped the term "Slim" from all of its marketing before the device even hit store shelves, leaving it instead with the very confusing model number 2001. Likewise, from the original black available in the US, new colors drifted only as far as white and silver - visually a regression towards the old white iPods and original DS's of the past! Even more fascinating was the recent announcement that different colors (such as green) will be made available in Japan only, save the red God of War model - to hit stores in June, nearly four months AFTER the game's release!
1. Bring it Down.
The easy answer, to the first question at least, is price. While it may seem overly simplistic, price can't be discounted as simply the poor man's answer.
When it was originally released and placed next to the DS, the sexiness and heft of the PSP alone could have been considered justification for the almost $100 price difference. It looked like the successor to the iPod while making the plastic DS look like a dual-screened gimmick.
Now, set side by side, against the sleek new DS Lite it looks like an overly expensive also-ran minus a touch screen. With the PS3, Sony has shown it isn't shy about selling hardware at a loss and making the PSP more price competitive should be something the big company really considers.
2. Change it up.
I want my electric blue PSP Vision with the second analogue stick.
In an informal poll, calls to a handful of local gaming stores showed us an interesting trend - of all the original NDS' s traded in, every clerk we spoke with estimated that 80% or more were handed in (at a significant loss) as credit against an upgrade to the DS Lite. Considered objectively however, without any real change in functionality, can the move from an original NDS to an NDS Lite really be seen as an upgrade though? In the minds of the impulse consumer, the answer seems to be a very loud "Yes!"
But what did the same informal poll reveal about the PSP 2001? Of the 5 stores called, only one clerk new of a single PSP turned in for trade-in credit against the upgraded PSP.
How does one make sense of this? The NDS Lite's sported a new form factor and radically different colors than the simple faux silver of the original. In addition to that, the new moniker clearly defined one of the main differences between the original and the redesign and made it compelling.
Sony, on the other hand, quickly dropped the term "Slim" from all of its marketing before the device even hit store shelves, leaving it instead with the very confusing model number 2001. Likewise, from the original black available in the US, new colors drifted only as far as white and silver - visually a regression towards the old white iPods and original DS's of the past! Even more fascinating was the recent announcement that different colors (such as green) will be made available in Japan only, save the red God of War model - to hit stores in June, nearly four months AFTER the game's release!
In addition to the questionable name, and lack of visual differentiation from the original PSP, consumers have been left with confusion and disappointment regarding the actual upgrades that were made. Is it the component cables that let you play games but not movies, or vice-versa? The RCA cables allow me to watch UMDs on my TV, but you say you have decided to stop releasing movies in that format? Hold on, you want to appeal more to hardcore gamers but you are still insisting on leaving off a second analogue stick leaving FPS's nearly unplayable?
I am confused. Wait, why am I buying this?
I am confused. Wait, why am I buying this?
3. Make everyone's criticism, the PSP's strengths.
In addition to the lack of a second analogue stick, early critics complained that the PSP felt more like an all-around personal media player, than a gaming device. Rather than undertaking any significant effort to re-frame the perception, Sony sat still. In the new age of exploding casual gaming, perhaps the better answer would have been to say, "Well of course it is more than just a gaming device! Just look at all the things it can do!" Release the oft-rumored keyboard, develop the Personal Information Management applications, make Location Free TV more accessible. Broaden its' appeal. Extend its' capabilities.
In addition to the lack of a second analogue stick, early critics complained that the PSP felt more like an all-around personal media player, than a gaming device. Rather than undertaking any significant effort to re-frame the perception, Sony sat still. In the new age of exploding casual gaming, perhaps the better answer would have been to say, "Well of course it is more than just a gaming device! Just look at all the things it can do!" Release the oft-rumored keyboard, develop the Personal Information Management applications, make Location Free TV more accessible. Broaden its' appeal. Extend its' capabilities.
4. Open it up.
No matter where you get your guiding principals from, there is a law of the universe that many big businesses have trouble grasping. In his Seven Laws of Spiritual Success, Deepak Chopra calls it the Law of Detachment, but I think Princess Leia makes it a little easier to understand in her smug chiding of Governor Tarkin, "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." It's the antithesis of the RIAA and the reason you can network auto-update your PSP's firmware to 3.91 (as of this writing).
Sony needs to ask themselves, would giving hackers unrestricted access to the PSP be such a bad idea? What would happen if a large community of volunteer programmers spent their time developing hundreds of very useful applications for the PSP, rather than fighting just to make it so they could develop them? What if it was suddenly very easy for consumers to find countless applications that made the $169 MSRP so much easier to justify? Would turning it into the uber-gadget for hackers and chic geeks be such a bad idea?
No one knows the answer, but the one company that could benefit from having tech mavens everywhere flashing around their PSPs in front of friends seems to have failed to even ask themselves that question, and has instead fostered one of the most adversarial consumer/manufacturer relationships many of us here have ever seen.
We'll have even more finger-pointing, "I told you so's”, displays of perfect hindsight, and answers in part two of "Saving The PSP" posted later this week. In the meantime, can you shout out the best solutions before we do? Use the comment section below to trump us and offer even better answers to Sony's handheld problem.
No matter where you get your guiding principals from, there is a law of the universe that many big businesses have trouble grasping. In his Seven Laws of Spiritual Success, Deepak Chopra calls it the Law of Detachment, but I think Princess Leia makes it a little easier to understand in her smug chiding of Governor Tarkin, "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." It's the antithesis of the RIAA and the reason you can network auto-update your PSP's firmware to 3.91 (as of this writing).
Sony needs to ask themselves, would giving hackers unrestricted access to the PSP be such a bad idea? What would happen if a large community of volunteer programmers spent their time developing hundreds of very useful applications for the PSP, rather than fighting just to make it so they could develop them? What if it was suddenly very easy for consumers to find countless applications that made the $169 MSRP so much easier to justify? Would turning it into the uber-gadget for hackers and chic geeks be such a bad idea?
No one knows the answer, but the one company that could benefit from having tech mavens everywhere flashing around their PSPs in front of friends seems to have failed to even ask themselves that question, and has instead fostered one of the most adversarial consumer/manufacturer relationships many of us here have ever seen.
We'll have even more finger-pointing, "I told you so's”, displays of perfect hindsight, and answers in part two of "Saving The PSP" posted later this week. In the meantime, can you shout out the best solutions before we do? Use the comment section below to trump us and offer even better answers to Sony's handheld problem.
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