To say Sony's response to the revelations surrounding the supposed development of a PlayStation Phone has been mixed is putting it lightly.

Official denials followed by retractions and hasty issues of "no comments" left, right and centre suggest that, whatever the firm has planned, it isn't willing to talk about it just yet.

However, that doesn't mean Sony is adverse to the idea of expanding its PlayStation portfolio by launching a dedicated handset.

Phoney phone?As reported by Engadget, when questioned about a PlayStation Phone during a conference call, neither executive VP and CFO Masaru Kato or senior general manager of Sony's investor relations division Gen Tsuchikawa moved to dismiss the device's existence.

Instead, both parties chose to talk about how the phone would fit into Sony's wider strategies if and when it did launch such hardware. 

"I know that you are not asking me to tell you when we will be coming out with a new product, but there is a gaming market based on [the] cellphones, and there are many changes that are being seen [with] Nintendo, as well as ourselves, in the field of the product for the gamers," Kato and Tsuchikawa said cryptically in the translated call.

"And there are smartphones and others or even cellphones gaming markets are very popular here in Japan. So the market itself is very... expanding."

Talking tablets

Their comments seem to suggest that Sony is aware that the challenge to its PSP business not only comes from DS, but also the likes of iPhone and Android.

Neither exec was willing to reveal just what form any reaction to the smartphone market's attack will take, however.

"Of course, we can't talk about specific products, but smartphones and tablets... it is difficult to tell you how we can put the games on them, but they are not going to be planned in different parts of our company," they continued.

"Therefore, the planning and the prototypes for various content [are] all carried out within this... one umbrella. So we are trying to figure out what we can do as Sony in this market."

Such talk suggests any move Sony might be making towards the launch of a PlayStation Phone - and, interestingly, in their own words, PlayStation tablets – is still in the formative stages, suggesting it's highly unlikely a device will make its debut in early 2011.

Nonetheless, their failure to dismiss the handset outright will fuel further speculation that an official unveiling of an Android powered PlayStation Phone is a matter of when, rather than if.

[source: Engadget]