PlayStation Network Coming to New Sony BRAVIA and Blu-ray Players in February

Event Summary

January 6, 2010 -- At the Sony CES press conference, it was announced that PlayStation Network (PSN) would be going beyond servicing PlayStation3 (PS3) gaming consoles, becoming available on next-generation BRAVIA HDTVs and Blu-ray players with Internet connectivity built directly into those devices. This move is set to take effect in February 2010, and PSN will also be available for VAIO laptops and other Windows PCs.

Current Perspective

• Current Perspective: Slightly negative on Sony’s announced move with PlayStation Network (PSN), because expanding its Internet movie service to its latest BRAVIA televisions and Blu-ray players is long overdue, though it is still unimpressive without PSN first becoming a far more innovative service. Making matters worse, BRAVIA Internet partner Amazon will be supplying a competing service to the PSN offering. Still, this is a move that Sony had to make. As more HDTVs have Internet connectivity built-in with extensive content offerings from Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, and others, it is a natural fit for Sony to extend its own offerings beyond third-party services to its own PSN content delivery platform, taking PSN beyond the confines of the PlayStation3 (PS3) game console.

• Vendor Importance: High to Sony, because it needs to tie its products together with services, not just branding; this move can breathe new life into its PSN service by opening it up to non-gaming households. Sony can also leverage PSN to become its sole online payment system for its Internet content across multiple devices ranging from Windows PCs to the new line-up of HDTVs and Blu-ray devices. It makes good sense not to build a separate platform all over again for BRAVIA with PSN capable of the job, though improvements to PSN are badly needed.

• Market Impact: Moderate on the digital home devices market, because Sony is still an enormous consumer electronics vendor, and selling movies and TV programming directly across more of its Internet-enabled devices (beyond just the PS3) is an obvious and overdue move. It should be noted that this only means PSN is expanding, showing no signs of evolving with a better user interface or making it easier to connect with Internet content. Services from Amazon and VUDU offer a better experience for discovering and then instantly accessing movies over the Internet compared to PSN.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

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