Research and Markets: Since 1989, Nintendo Has Dominated the Portable Gaming Market Leaving Many Would-Be Competitors in Its Wake - A Profile of Sony PSP

Business Wire, August 30, 2006

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c41395) has announced the addition of Understanding Portable Gamers: A Profile of Sony PSP Owners to their offering.

This second report in our Portable Gaming Series provides a comprehensive examination of Sony PSP owners. These profiles are intended to help better understand the unique usage habits and requirements of each segment in order to improve design and application development. The report utilizes the results of a recent survey of over 2,000 mobile phone users to compare and contrast the attributes of three separate segments of the Portable Game Player (PGP) market using the following concepts:

--PSP Owner - Those who have a Sony PSP, but may own other brands of PGPs;

--Other PGP Owner - Those who have a PGP, but does not own a Sony PSP; and

--PGP Non-owner - those who do not personally own or use a PGP.

From the Report:

Portable gaming has come a long way since the days of Mattels single-game portables that relied on the thrill of LED-action. Since the original Game Boy release in 1989, Nintendo has dominated the portable gaming market leaving many would-be competitors in its wake. In March 2005, Sony unleashed the PSP on American gamers. In an attempt to replicate the success found in the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles, Sony hopes that consumers will view the PSP as both a portable gaming and multimedia experience. With around 8 million PSPs sold to date, Sony appears to have successfully entered the PGP market and could be here to stay.

Until this latest generation of portable game players (PGPs), the devices were, for the most part, limited in their capabilities to only playing games. But with the release of Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP, each device with new embedded features which both improve the gaming experience and enable non-gaming functionality, the general face of portable games may possibly be changing. The questions certainly arise as to what types of features and functionality that gamers want on their handheld device, but what types of gamers prefer each type of feature?

This report, the second in a two-report series designed to fully profile the different types of PGP owners, seeks to not only compare portable game player (PGP) owners and non-owners, but also PSP owners with other PGP owners and non-owners. The research creates a profile of PSP owners and allows the reader to develop a clear picture of this newer portable gaming segment. No doubt the research finds that while there is some overlap between Nintendo owners and Sony owners regarding certain factors, the differences between the two groups are significant.

Methodology

In August 2005, we fielded an online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. cell phone users between the ages of 15 and 50 regarding issues including mobile phone ownership, mobile phone service subscriptions, portable media device ownership, online and digital music service subscriptions, preferred television networks and interest in access to these networks using a mobile phone, as well as myriad of other issues related to mobile media. The sample was randomly selected from a panel of several million Internet households. The purpose of this report is to identify and profile current users of a Sony PSP. The survey sample included 133 Sony PSP users - a statistically significant sample for our purposes in this report.

Products Mentioned:

PSP

Contents Include:

Key Findings

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Methodology

3.0 Portable Game Player (PGP) Ownership

4.0 PGP Usage Profile

5.0 Technology Characteristics

6.0 Demographics

7.0 Psychographics

8.0 Reflections and Recommendations

List of Figures

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c41395