Sony PSP and Search?
So the Sony PSP Update 2.0 with the new web browser isn't out yet. It was supposed to be released last Friday, but the launch was delayed for some weird reason... Here's the official message as to why:
The PSP Firmware 2.0 Upgrade for the North American market will be available during the week of August 15th, instead of on August 12, as previously reported.
Designed to compliment the comprehensive entertainment experience of games, movies, music, photos and wireless connectivity provided by the revolutionary portable device, the firmware 2.0 upgrade will allow users to take advantage of the unit’s built-in Wi-Fi capability and wirelessly search the Internet from Internet Access Points or hot spots. The firmware 2.0 upgrade will be available for download directly to a PSP using a Wi-Fi connection or downloaded to a PC from http://us.playstation.com/psp and transferred to a PSP through a USB cable.
Emphasis, mine.
I wonder if there's a Search Engine out there (Y!, G, AOL, LookSmart? Probably not MSN...) that saw the upcoming release and called Sony and made a deal to get pre-installed on the PSPs. Now for the past week, they've been doing work to index PSP-friendly websites? Maybe this is the reason for the unexplained delay. The update is already out in Japan and works perfectly on my PSP - there doesn't seem to be a technical reason for the wait.
You know that I think the web browser is going to be a killer app for the device. It's not perfect, but I think it's pretty great. Being the default search engine would not only be a win in terms of owning that specific device, it would also set the stage in terms of mind share for being "The" search engine for consumer electronics.
The chances are probably low that this is happening, but it's a possibility. Hmmm... I wonder if we're on top of this at Y!? I should shoot someone an email (or wait until they read this I guess...)
;-)
-Russ