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In recent months, Stringer has said the Japanese electronics and entertainment company is testing a service%26mdash;dubbed PlayStation Network%26mdash;that will sell videos, music, and other digital content to consumers through Internet-connected PlayStation 3 video game machines. The PS3 will store tunes and high-definition movies and transfer the content to gadgets such as the PlayStation Portable gaming console.
But the big question has been whether Sony would open the network to others. In the past, Sony gadgets would only play music from Bob Dylan, Lauryn Hill, and other artists who are licensed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and movies such as Spider-Man 3 from Sony Pictures Entertainment. Stringer said that the PlayStation Network will rely on %26quot;open%26quot; copyright protection software. %26quot;It’s not proprietary. It’s based on open standards,%26quot; he told a select group of journalists in Tokyo. %26quot;We’re being very careful to be more open than anyone else.%26quot;
Moving Away from the Walled GardenThat suggests he’ll let other Hollywood studios, music labels, and gadget makers piggyback on the system as long as they agree to use Sony’s digital rights management (DRM) technology. This would give users a far broader offering of content to choose from and electronics hardware to play with.
The move away from a so-called walled garden approach could help Sony square off against companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Those companies have their own music and video download services and far more experience than Sony at developing easy-to-use software. Sony stumbled badly early on with music downloads when it wouldn’t let consumers who owned Walkman players listen to music in the most common MP3 format. %26quot;I think this is a realization that in order to succeed Sony must open up,%26quot; said Yankee Group analyst Mike Goodman.
Still, some analysts think Sony could find that letting other companies link to its network isn’t as simple as it sounds. Microsoft’s Zune players, for instance, now run on software that’s not available on other gadgets, much like Apple’s iPods. That’s a shift for Microsoft, which had licensed software to Creative Technology, iRiver, and others, only to find that it wasn’t making any headway against Apple. %26quot;The reason Microsoft struggled was you couldn’t get it to work as well when there were so many parties involved,%26quot; says Jon Erensen, an analyst with market researcher Gartner (IT). %26quot;The reason Apple has had such success with the iPod is the tight integration between the hardware and software over the network.%26quot;
Luring More Consumers to the PS3The PlayStation Network represents a huge strategic gamble for Sony. It involves building not only a global infrastructure to deliver a vast library of content but also a robust software platform. Stringer acknowledged that Sony doesn’t exactly have a sterling record creating software but hinted that the company was exhausting its resources to get the network up and running. It’s unclear how much Sony will spend, and Stringer would only say that it will %26quot;cost a lot of money.%26quot;
The first step is to connect the PlayStation Network to the millions of PS3 and PSP machines the company has sold. Offering a broader range of services for Sony products could also lure more consumers to those gadgets. Sales of the PS3, which was launched last November, and the PSP, which was given a moderate makeover, have picked up in recent months.
The next step will allow access by other Sony gadgets, such as cell phones made in joint venture with Sweden’s Ericsson (ERIC), and then later non-Sony devices. %26quot;If we can ever connect the dots, then we have a great advantage against our [consumer electronics] rivals and some advantage in competition with Apple and Microsoft,%26quot; Stringer said.
Behind the scenes, the rollout is being led by Sony’s online gaming division, Sony Online Entertainment, based in San Diego. There, staffers have spent months orchestrating the project, which involves Sony software programmers in the U.S. and Japan, electronics engineers, and executives at Sony Pictures. Ultimately, whether their efforts pay off rests on their ability to deliver something that’s easy to use and reliable.
