Sony Welcomes iPad As PSP Competitor

With Apple launching its much-awaited iPad tablet, the device has been attracting mixed reviews both from users and also from competitors, who see the device as a threat to their current product offerings. 

However, Sony Corporation, the company behind the popular gaming consoles franchise, PlayStation, believes that the hand-held device will be able to attract gamers to its PlayStation Portable (PSP) gaming platform.

John Keller, the head of marketing for Sony’s PlayStation gaming platform, commenting on the launch of the iPad, told the Wall Street Journal that “Apple's entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony ... when people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP.”

The marketing head is of the opinion that having iPad as a potential rival in the handheld console market will allow the company to boost the popularity of its PSP gaming device, which has a seen a latest hardware update in the form of PSP Go.

According to market statistics, ever since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, sales figures for Sony’s PSP have nearly tripled. 

Sony’s oddly optimistic beliefs are not reciprocated by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who, dismissing the device as a potential threat, told the New York Times that iPad was just a bigger version of the iPod Touch.