Sony download movie move may make money

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 05 September 2007 11:05

Opinion and Analysis

While the critics decry the recently announced effort of Sony to enter the movie download space just days after the company pulled the plug on its Connect online music store, the move could well turn out to be a smart one.

For a start, TV and video downloads, unlike music downloads, is still a nascent market that is very much up for grabs. Additionally, Sony's range of entertainment hardware, including PS3 and PSP are well established devices in the marketplace that lend themselves to direct downloads.

The PSP in particular, with nearly 30 million units in the global marketplace, is a device that could figure prominently in the portable video space and present a viable alternative to the various flavours of video iPod including iPhone. The PSP's big weakness of course is a lack of decent local storage and it's a pity Sony didn't address this by building in 8GB when it upgraded the PSP to the new slim version.
However, even if you have to carry around a few extra 1GB memory sticks for movie and TV downloads, the PSP has a notable advantage over the video iPods - its display. With a 4.3 inch screen and 16:9 aspect ratio, the PSP presents a more natural size than even the iPhone to view video on the move.

Likewise, as the PS3 approaches sales of 5 million worldwide and the fact that it's probably already sitting in most owners' living rooms connected to the TV complete with a 60GB (or soon 80GB) hard drive, it makes perfect sense to enable PS3 users to download TV shows and movies direct to the console without the necessity of streaming from a PC. Users already can do this from an Xbox 360 but not from Apple Tv.

Unlike the case with music downloads, which has been dominated by Apple, the entry of Sony into video downloads is anything but a yawn and, with devices like PSP and PS3 already in the hands of users, the market demands it.