SCEE and British Telecom turn PSP into videophone

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and UK mobile phone service provider BT have joined forces to turn the PSP into a mobile video phone. BT has developed software that allows phone calls and video calls over the internet, a natural fit to leverage the PSP digital camera accessory and built-in WIFI capabilities to add video phone the multi-purpose handheld’s list of uses.

Each company has a lot to gain from the partnership: BT has a relatively popular and powerful mobile platform for their highly useful 21CN technology, which is available in any of the 102 countries BT serves, and Sony gets a stake in the lucrative mobile phone market without having to take time and money to develop a whole new device.

Even though this new functionality will likely do well to momentarily invigorate PSP sales where free WIFI is readily available, I can’t help but think this move is too little and too late compared to the Apple iPhone. It seems to be in line with the PSP’s long list of features: just novel or useful enough to catch someone’s attention but inconvenient or expensive enough in execution to be frustrating and ultimately shrugged off.

Site [BT Group] Also read [EuroGamer]