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By Ned Randolph -- Video Business, 9/4/2007
SEPT. 4 | The creator of the Walkman is intent on retaking its once-top position in the portable device and content market.
Just days after announcing it was canceling its music download store, Connect, Sony said it will launch a new service that provides music and video downloads onto its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles as well as its Bravia HDTVs, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Sony's Bravia TVs use a similar interface as the game systems. The PS3 is already capable of playing back Blu-ray Discs.
Currently dominated by Apple's iTunes, the movie download market is still considered up for grabs and potentially worth billions of dollars.
Apple also offers video-compatible iPod devices and the iPhone.
Establishing a dominant position in this area is crucial for Sony, whose Walkman music devices lost out to Apple's iPods when Sony failed to launch compelling music-downloading software.
The move also could help boost lagging sales of the PS3 and PSP videogame devices. The PS3, in particular, has been a big disappointment even though Sony made a large investment in its development to build a state-of-the-art machine.
Just last week, Sony unveiled for the U.S. market a Walkman that for the first time can play movie trailers and music videos in addition to music. Also, it would use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media software.
Earlier this year, Sony introduced a module for its U.S. TV models that can download Internet content. The company will offer a similar device in Japan this fall, which will allow users to download videos from a number of Internet services. Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation unit last month launched new features for the PS3 and PSP in Europe that allow consumers to use their game machines to record TV shows onto their PS3s and transfer them onto their PSPs through a wireless connection.
Microsoft has been positioning its competing Xbox 360 console to be used for video downloading. Internet companies, as well as TV and movie studios, cable companies and mobile operators, are jockeying for a piece of the action.
Apple's set-top Apple TV device, which lets users play music and video from their computer-based iTunes library, has not been selling strongly since it went on sale earlier this year, analysts say.
Some analysts also have said that content companies such as movie studios may be wary of the way Apple dominates the digital music market and might be more encouraged to work with another company, especially one that owns a movie studio of its own and understands their concerns.
