Sony takes on DS and smartphones with new handheld

The announcement to an audience of hundreds packing the ballroom of a Tokyo hotel came the same day as Nintendo, which is readying the launch of a 3D version of its DS handheld next month, reported a 46 percent slide in quarterly profit, below analysts' estimates.

To the accompaniment of loud dance music, Sony showed off its new device, codenamed "NGP" for Next Generation Portable, featuring a 3G wireless data connection and a 5-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, as well as motion sensors and a rear touch panel.

"The capabilities of handsets are leaping ahead and pick-up-and-play games are becoming a big business," Kazuo Hirai, the president of Sony's games unit, told reporters after a media briefing in Tokyo. "We have to be aware of that environment."

But it is unclear whether the new gadget can hold off the challenge from Apple and products emerging from rivals such as Samsung Electronics.

"The key will be pricing of the device," said Nobuo Kurahashi, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities. "If the company prices it cheaper than Nintendo's 3DS, it would be positive."

With smartphones and tablets offering a versatile alternative to handheld game devices, Sony needs new products able to tap a ballooning market for mobile gaming, which research firm Gartner expect to more than double to nearly $12 billion within three years.

Sony said the NGP will not go on sale until around the year-end and declined to give pricing details. Nintendo's 3DS will sell for 25,000 yen ($304.2) in Japan and about $250 in the United States.

Posted in: MOBILE COMPUTING