Why are the handset makers so dumb?
I was just reading a piece on Nokia’s reaction to the rumored PSP phone. Here’s the money quote from Jaakko Kaidesoja (say that three times fast. ok, say that one time at all…) Nokia’s games boss:
“I’m not scared about anybody,” he said. “The real question is how do they [Sony Ericsson] do it? Can they create a link between the PSP games and a phone? Can they do the multiplayer and online stuff? We’ve been doing this for two years and it hasn’t been easy.”
Hmm… that reminds me of something… what was it… what was it… Oh, right! It was when Colligan (Palm’s big boss) said this (in response to questions about Apple’s then forthcoming iPhone):
“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,†he said. “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.â€
I mean, what is it that the existing handset makers have that is so awesome in their minds that it is not conceivable to them that anyone could come in and do something better? Granted, it isn’t easy to break into the handset market as Helio is proving. Once the darling of the blogowebs it was held up as the shining competitor to the iPhone, guess that didn’t really work out for them and I can’t say as I’m overly surprised.
But the difference is that Helio came from nowhere. The iPhone came from a mammoth consumer facing hardware and software company. A PSP phone would also come from such a company - a company that also in this case has a handset making division. Is Nokia really that dumb that it can not envision a gaming platform (based on one that already exists and is quite successful) attached to a phone that could be better than it’s own lackluster N-Gage system?
I’m not saying that a PSP phone will come out and be awesome. All I’m saying is that for Nokia to brush it off either means they are incredibly dumb or else they would like their shareholders to think they are incredibly dumb or possibly that they think in fact that their shareholders themselves are incredibly dumb. None of those possibilities is very good, if you ask me. There are a lot of ways to suggest that you are watching the competition and express confidence in your own without coming off this way. I’m just saying.
And to bring it all back to my fanboy roots, if I was a Nokia or Sony I’d be more worried at the prospects of an iPhone/iPod Touch based gaming platform taking hold. They’ve already got hot, buzzworthy hardware flying into people’s hands, an online and over the air distribution platform and are about to come out with their SDK, I can guarantee that games will be a fair component of the fruits of that labor.
