Sony planning iPad killer, PlayStation phone: WSJ

Sony is reportedly working on a range of new portable devices, including an answer to Apple's iPad and a PlayStation smartphone.
 
The company is working on a portable device that combines the characteristics of netbooks, eReaders and handheld gaming systems, insider sources told the Wall Street Journal.
 
It also plans to develop a smartphone capable of playing PlayStation and PSP games through handset JV Sony Ericsson, the sources added.
 
The new products, which are expected to launch this year, will be compatible with Sony's new online media platform, which will offer games, television and movie downloads and songs as well as PlayStation 1 and PSP games.
 
A PlayStation-branded phone has been a long-expected product for Sony Ericsson, with Sony's reluctance to allow the JV to develop such a handset seen as a snub to its JV partner. 
 
But a PlayStation handset was hinted at last month, during a Sony attempt to quash rumours that the company wanted out of the handset JV.