Sony files patent, but won't release gaming phone yet

Sony Ericsson has filed a US patent application for a mobile device with videogame features, but said on Monday that it is not poised to launch a phone based on its PlayStation Portable videogame brand.

Sony Ericsson, a venture of Sony and Ericsson, filed a patent application dated 31 May with the US Patent and Trademark Office related to a mobile device with gaming functionality that originated from employees in Japan.

The fourth-biggest mobile phone maker did not rule out the development of a device combining its phone technology with Sony's portable videogame technology, but said it was not ready to announce any products.

"We're continually evaluating other propositions, but they have to be credible propositions. We're not interested in sticking parts on phones that destroy the brand equity that's been built up by Sony," Sony Ericsson spokeswoman Merran Wrigley said by phone on Monday.

The comments came after newspaper and blog reports speculating that Sony Ericsson would launch a phone based on Sony's popular PSP handheld gaming device.

Sony Ericsson has succeeded in selling music phones and camera phones that capitalise on its well-known Walkman music player brand and its Cyber-shot digital camera brand.

But Wrigley said the company did not release these products until it was at a point where it felt customers did not have to compromise on either the phone or the media capability.

There has been no word from Sony's gaming division about a new PSP, much less one with a phone built in, a US spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment told Reuters. Sony has made improvements to the PSP, which made its debut in the US in December 2004, using software, or 'firmware', upgrades.

Sony Ericsson plans to unveil products featuring music and imaging capabilities rather than gaming features at an event scheduled to take place in Berlin on 14 June, Wrigley said.

The announcement comes two weeks before Apple launches sales of its widely anticipated music-playing iPhone in the US on 29 June.