Sony handheld wins customers
Sony Corp. said on Monday retailers had almost completely sold out of the Play Station Portable on its first day in Japanese stores, marking a strong start for the company's first handheld game machine.
Sony shipped about 200,000 of the sleek black devices to retailers ahead of the early Sunday morning launch in Japan. The PSP, which can play movies, music and games, will go on sale in Europe and North America early next year.
"We have heard that the PSP has nearly sold out nationwide," said Koichiro Katsurayama, spokesman at Sony Computer Entertainment, the group's game division.
"But we have not changed our target of shipping 500,000 in Japan by the end of 2004."
Katsurayama said Sony was considering boosting production of the PSP, but acknowledged that this would be a difficult task because it had already established schedules with components suppliers that could not be easily changed.
