PSN to be basis of Sony iTunes rival, accounts top 33 million

In addition to confirming that 3D gaming for the PlayStation 3 was coming in 2010, yesterday's Sony Corp. global strategy presentation revealed that a premium subscription service will be added to the PlayStation Network. Those two initiatives were revealed as part of a far larger vision that will see Sony try to overtake rival Apple's iTunes service with a common content distribution system for all its media products.

Temporarily named the Sony Online Service (SOS), the ambitious initiative aims to offer a single user experience across all its network media devices, from portable media players to large-screen Bravia HDTVs. At the presentation, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai outlined the service as part of his duties as executive vice president of Sony's Networked Product and Services group, which SCE was folded into this year.

According to Hirai, the SOS will support a single user ID across all Sony products, all of which will have a common user experience. The goal will be to encourage consumers to buy more Sony products because of the "enhanced value," which Sony feels they will have by being able to tap into SOS. The presentation held up HDTVs, Blu-ray players, the Sony Reader electronic book, laptops, Walkman MP3 players, the PSP Go, and the PS3 as examples of devices that would use the service.

The inclusion of the PSP and PS3 is no coincidence, since the PlayStation Network will be the basis for the entire SOS structure. Through a translator, Hirai explained that "the service will be launched economically and quickly by leveraging the PlayStation [Network] service platform. For example, key assets for creating a network service management system, payment system, and content distribution system will be shared with the PSN platform so that initial investment risk can be minimized."

With PSN as its backbone, the Sony Online Service will also attempt to expand into the company's line of mobile devices. "The introduction of new mobile products that are network enabled will be a key part of this process, as mobile products which users turn to throughout the day will be a key entry point to this service," said Hirai. The company did not give a launch window for SOS, nor did it say how much money it was investing in the initiative.

Sony justified its faith in the strength of the PSN architecture by revealing that as of November 16, the service had 33 million registered users. Each day, an average of 5.4 million people log onto the service, some 1.4 million of whom visit the PlayStation Store. Each month, Sony says PSN users download 25 petabytes of content, enough to fill 5,000 single-layer DVDs. Currently more than 650 PS3 and PSP games are available on the PlayStation Store, along with 2,417 movies, 15,042 TV shows, and more than 10,000 "extra items" such as themes. Hirai said the company now expects to sell $50 billion ($562.6 million) worth of goods on the service during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010--a threefold increase over the previous year.