Sony bringing iPod Touch clone to market at CES?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 13 December 2008 17:57

IT Industry - Market

An online report from “Sony Insider” quotes an unnamed Sony insider saying an OLED based thin touch screen Walkman will debut at CES 2009 in Las Vegas with up to 32GB of memory, but if it’s only a player and not a handheld computer like the iPod Touch, will anyone buy it?

The great thing about Apple’s iPod Touch and the iPhone is that they aren’t just basic media players, but fully fledged handheld computers, now with over 10,000 apps available to download from Apple’s “App Store”.

This extends their functions and capabilities so greatly that the iPod Touch, when equipped with a 3.5mm microphone headset, and connected to a Wi-Fi network, can even work as a VoIP phone, amongst at least 9,999 other software capabilities.

Both of Apple’s iDevices are also great gaming consoles, with Apple publicly challenging both the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP for handheld gaming supremacy in a talk earlier this week, showing just how seriously Apple is taking the handheld computing revolution.

So, it was very interesting to see a claim from the Sony Insider blog that Sony is set to reveal its first touch screen Walkman.

Although only a couple of “mock-ups” are displayed on the site, with no pics available yet, I’m instantly reminded of Samsung’s P2 media player, which is also a slimline touch screen music and video player with an FM radio.

While the P2 is a great player and would keep anyone looking for a media-only player happy, it lacks the ability to be further extended as a handheld computer like the iPod Touch.

The rumoured new Sony Walkman appears set to be cast in the same mould, but with the welcome additions of Wi-Fi, YouTube and a web browser.

Actually a browser gives hope of web apps, although the report says there is no confirmation or denial of Adobe Flash compatibility. Perhaps Sony is wanting to surprise us all with its own new handheld computer that can also run dedicated apps, and I certainly hope this is the case.

For if not, why would you want to spend hundreds of dollars on a slimline touch screen player, when you can have that in the iPod Touch, yet extend it in what is literally a myriad ways, with plenty more to come?

That’s a question I hope Sony has an answer to, unless the answer is a much cheaper price to make up for the possible fact no additional computing capabilities can be unleashed.

So, what are the supposedly leaked specs of the new Sony Walkman? Please read on to page 2.