Sony to Sony Ericsson: No, You Can't Make a 'PSP Phone'

With Apple (AAPL) increasingly marketing the iPhone as a gaming platform, We've wondered: What about Sony (SNE)? The company has the PSP fighting (and losing) against Nintendo's (NTDOY) DS, and its Sony Ericsson joint venture has about 8% of the mobile market.

So if Apple can sucessfully marry mobile gaming with mobile phone, how come Sony can't -- despite deep expertise in both areas?

The answer, sadly, seems to be internal politics and a lack of leadership at the top. Plans for a "PSP phone" were scuttled after Sony Ericsson was denied use of the Playstation brand.

Mobiletoday: Sony is understood to have refused to allow Sony Ericsson the use of its PlayStation brand, after the handset manufacturer presented a pitch to the board late last year.

Sony Ericsson was planning to develop a PSP phone to capitalise on the growing success of the gaming sector, and after the success of Cyber-shot and Walkman handsets.

Sources said the refusal to sanction the brand on the handsets in December has prompted a fallout between Sony and the mobile phone joint venture.

Of course, we have some trouble figuring out just what a "PSP phone" would look like or how plausible it'd be. But with no agreement on branding, Sony's engineers won't get the chance to start figuring it out.

We put in a call to Sony Ericsson, we'll update if we hear more.

Sony To Sony Ericsson: No, You Can't Make A 'PSP Phone'