Why isn't PS Vita a phone?

The PSV (I am calling it, that's how it will be known) :P looks so great and the $250 price, WOW, but goddamn I was so expecting it to have phone capabilities! Goddamn. 
 
It already has 3G which I assume will work with a SIM card or phone card or something! How ultra freaking tiny the "phone chip" and the "antenna" must be? It already has a great processor and touch screen and camera and gps and a battery on it, how much does it cost to make it a phone? 5$? There are complete cellphones for 20$ at the store... bleh. :P It would destroy any other phone for me.

Because then they would be competing with the two-thousand pound juggernaut that is Apple's iPhone, and they probably don't want to do that. The only reason Android is even contending at this point is because there are just so many phones out there the utilizing the OS. At this point the iPhone is to mobile phones as WoW is to MMOs, and we've seen how attempts to penetrate THAT market have gone.

Honestly, Sony made a smart move in not making this a cell phone.

You mean the psv would be on the phone shelf instead of the game section of the store? Yeah, I could see that. But would it hurt sales, you think? Wouldn't 3x more people get it since it's also a phone.
 
It's not a phone that's also a game console (like n-gage or iphone), it's a game console that's also a phone. Would be, anyway.

Dude, I wish it was a phone. I'm going to soon buy a cell phone for the very first time ever. I would have waited it out for the PSV if it would also work as a phone. I agree, man. All other phones would bow before it.

Because then it would be the N-Gage, and we all know how that turned out.

Because if it was a phone people wouldn't buy it as a gaming console and it will sell a lot more as a gaming console and not as a phone that can play games.

@Tenshin said:

It's not a phone that's also a game console (like n-gage or iphone), it's a game console that's also a phone. Would be, anyway.

The problem is that, assuming don't own a cell phone and/or aren't an AT&T customer, you suddenly have to lock yourself into a contract and monthly fee to purchase your handheld gaming device. That's just how phones work. It's a barrier to entry that I believe any device primarily conceived as a gaming platform would shatter against. It's why the iPhone is a phone first and a gaming device second.

Here in Portugal, Europe, you can buy the full phone outright and then pick whatever payment plan or company you want. And I wouldn't mind paying the full 300$ for PSV and then have it unlocked. Don't need to buy it for 100$ and be locked into a 2 year contract like you said. But yeah I GET IT, phone industry sucks and that would be the only way to get it.

I don't really care for some sidetalking.

I use my phone for text messaging.  I think I actually dial a number maybe twice a week.

Why isn't the XBox 360 a fridge?

If the PSV was a phone, what would happen to the PS phone, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play?  They just released that product and now they introduce something that invalidates its existence?  As much as Jeff and the crew live lifestyles that would suggest otherwise, there is a market (perhaps a smaller one than Sony would like) that wants more from a handheld game than Angry Birds and other quick play titles.  Sony is trying to appeal to multiple segments of the marketplace.  It won't be successful with all of them, but that's how business usually works.  The Xperia Play is supposed to be their gaming phone while the PSV will be a gaming handheld. 

Because it would be a ugly-ass phone then!

End of story, end of thread.

R.I.P.

Because it would be a ugly-ass phone then!

End of story, end of thread.

R.I.P.

@Tenshin said:

It's not a phone that's also a game console (like n-gage or iphone), it's a game console that's also a phone. Would be, anyway.

The problem is that, assuming don't own a cell phone and/or aren't an AT&T customer, you suddenly have to lock yourself into a contract and monthly fee to purchase your handheld gaming device. That's just how phones work. It's a barrier to entry that I believe any device primarily conceived as a gaming platform would shatter against. It's why the iPhone is a phone first and a gaming device second.

@Leakster: Yeah XBOX already a dvd player, music player, media center, movie rental, it's even got internet tv now. Realistically I only have room for 1 portable device when I leave home and I would love it for it to be my DS or PSP, but... it's just not. It's my phone. And my games end up never leaving home.

Because then it would be the N-Gage, and we all know how that turned out.

There are so few GOOD games that are EASY to play on the Iphone/Ipod that I would have lost all interest the second they tried to make it a phone.

They'd get fucking raped by Apple.

The iPhone 5 is due out the same time as the PS Vita...what do you think will sell more this holiday? iPhone 5 or PS Vita?

Why isn't the XBox 360 a fridge?

Good question

"It will get raped by iPhone" is a stupid response. It might be, but it's the same case if it had phone functionality or not. If you want what the iPhone offers (game wise) then you buy the iPhone, if you want that the PSV offers then you buy the PSV. If PSV had phone functionality but you would rather use your iPhone for calls, then its still the same question of what kind of games you prefer: EXACTLY like if it didn't have phone functionality.

I guess if comes down to the good old: "How much more would it cost to add" compared to: "How many more/less are gonna buy"

You'd have to give Qualcomm their chunk of flesh for complex phone circuitry, jump through more hoops for standards compliance, blow power consumption and heat thresholds that they already set up out of the water.  Just use the 3g data and voip.  Im sure they will release Skype for it like they did with the original PSP. 
 
Edit:  Oh wait Microsoft bought Skype, shit.

The phone is the least used feature on most smart phones...why copy the LEAST used feature that adds the most headaches. There risk reward on a phone is skewed so far away from being a phone that it is funny the iPhone is even a phone.

It would suck....i mean fucking really phones are not really good gaming systems, because as you play you drain a ton of battery, on the iphone 4 i can play maybe a hour and a half or 2 or so of dead space before my phone is dead.

A dead phone is a fucking useless phone. Most people own phones to use as a texting or web browsing system. You wont be doing much gaming on it if your worried it will go dead.

@JJWeatherman said:

Because then it would be the N-Gage, and we all know how that turned out.

Basically this.

Every handheld doesn't have to be a phone.

The cases both for and against making it a phone are very strong. On the whole, they are probably better off staying out of the issue and leaving it a game platform. They can always add a phone later if they want to.

because they already made the Xperia Play. and the Vita would be big as fuck

Because Sony already has a phone coming out. This is the PSP on steroids.

@TwoOneFive said:

because they already made the Xperia Play. and the Vita would be big as fuck

And you'd have to hold it like a taco to make phone calls and take the battery out to play games

@MysteriousBob said:

@JJWeatherman said:

Because then it would be the N-Gage, and we all know how that turned out.

This. Either make a phone or make a handheld.

It was a very different market when the N-Gage was released. That and it was just kinda shit.

Most likely, Sony doesnt want the Vita to compete with its Playstation Branded phone. Sorta like how Nintendo didnt want the Wii U controller to interfere with its 3DS sales.

because then that would compete with their playstation phone product on verizon the experia play. Companies do weird things for weird reasons.

Why isn't the XBox 360 a fridge?