In Japan, where the console was launched on 4th March, it has sold over 3 million units. Sony has denied reports that the delayed UK launch is due to the US “hogging” European supplies.
Last week, Sony and Japan’s dominant mobile phone operator DoCoMo announced plans to develop services linking the Playstation with DoCoMo’s i-mode internet access mobile phone. A DoCoMo spokesman said: “The initial service will enable i-mode users to play games with mobile phones outside and also play the same game with Playstation at home.
Sony and DoCoMo also hope to exploit the W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) technology when it becomes available soon, which will allow faster data transmission and video images. The bandwidth limitations of i-mode will restrict the capability of games available until the introduction of the W-CDMA standard. i-mode is enormously popular in Japan, with around 10 million users for phone technology that has been around for only one year.