Sony is rumored to be debuting a brand new 3.3″ touchscreen Walkman at CES that will come in 16GB and 32GB models. The yet to be named device will feature an OLED display which should help save that oh so important battery life from draining too quickly while also giving the device some incredibly gorgeous color detail.
The device should also come with Wifi, Youtube support, podcast subscriptions, and support for MP3, AAC, PCM, WMA, AVC (h.264), MP4, and WMV. The rumor also states that Sony would be partnering with Amazon to support over the air downloads of Amazon MP3s.
Alongside Wifi Sony has (intelligently) decided to (unlike the Zune) have a built in web browser, but it is still unknown whether or not the browser will be based on WebKit (as so many mobile browser are these days) or if Sony has decided to partner with Opera for this device.
It’s obvious that Sony is trying to compete with the iPod Touch with this device but the problem is that it (supposedly) does not have an App Store, which (in my opinion) is the reason the iPod Touch is so successful right now. But this is just another reason why Sony needs to rethink its strategy, if they were to release this device with an App Store it would ultimately compete with the PSP and Sony doesn’t want to do that. If they were smart they would be releaseing a device like this with similar features but also include a fast enough processor to let it become the PSP2, but I’m not sure if the guys at Sony have enough guts to do something like that.
The problem is that Sony is to sectionalized as a company, I’m not sure if the folks who work in their gaming department (PS3 and PSP) have any idea what the guys working on the next Walkman are doing, and that is why ultimately this device will fail, integration with your other devices is the key to success in the world of iPods and unless you can bring that same experience or better to the table, don’t expect to do very well.
Sony To Debut 32GB 3.3-inch Wi-Fi Touchscreen Walkman – ITProPortal.com.