According to reports in the marketing and advertising press, Sony Computer Entertainment is planning to launch a music download service in a direct attack on Apple’s swelling market dominance in the pay-to-listen audio sector.
The service will form part of the wider PlayStation brand and will be aimed firmly at PSP users, with PlayStation 3 offerings coming online at a later date.
In development right now in London, the service, which the Gossip-a-Tron 4000 is yet to name, will be released across the world towards the end of this summer.
If one report on Brand Republic is to be believed, the service will also offer downloadable game and movie content to PSP users, with SCE bridging the service gap that has formed between Microsoft’s Xbox Live service and Apple’s increasing popular iTunes.
A micro-payment system is also being developed, consolidating talk from SCE boss Ken Kutaragi last week when the Sony executive admitted that aggressively targeting competitors by combining offerings from within different divisions within the company was a top priority.
Expect a full announcement at E3, or perhaps even at Sony’s PSP showing in Europe later this week.