The rise of the handheld console
Announcing Sony's plans to enter the portable gaming market, he claimed the PlayStation Portable (PSP) would become "the Walkman for the 21st Century".
At that time conventional wisdom dictated that any attempt to break into the handheld market, dominated for so long by Nintendo, was doomed to failure.
To suggest that Sony's console would not only make an impact on the market, but also match the success of the 1980s cultural icon that was the Walkman seemed to argue a self-confidence bordering on arrogance.
After all, Sony shipped more than 50m Walkman units in the first ten years of production, reaching a total of 150m units produced by 1995.
The name Walkman has even joined that select group of brands like Hoover and Xerox whose name defines the product.
So four years down the line has the PSP lived up to "Papa" Kutaragi's prediction? Has it succeeded in breaking Nintendo's apparently unshakeable hold on the market?
Read the full article here...Diarmuid Mitchell
February 27, 2007
Source: BBC News