Sony's Hirai Hopes for Quick Start to Online Content Service

From PC World: Sony is hoping to launch its planned online content service early next year and expects it will give the company an advantage in the increasingly competitive consumer electronics market, the executive heading up the project said Friday.

"I'd like it to get off the ground as quickly as possible," said Kaz Hirai, executive vice president of Sony and head of its Networked Products & Service Group, in an interview at the company's Tokyo headquarters. "Earlier in the year is more preferable."

The service, provisionally dubbed the "Sony Online Service," seeks to bring movies, music, books, games and other content to networked consumer electronics devices including Bravia TVs, Walkman music players, Vaio computers and Sony Ericsson cell phones.

It's an expansion of the successful PlayStation Network that has attracted 33 million users in its first 3 years of operation and provides a mixture of free and paid content. Sony is expecting sales of ¥50 billion (US$563 million) from the PlayStation Network this year and the new online service will run on the same infrastructure. The same user ID will work on both services.

The new service has a sales target of ¥300 billion in 2012 but it will also provide a range of free content to all users. Sony isn't "closing the door on all the good stuff that we provide for free," said Hirai.

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