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August 30, 2004

Nintendo and Sony May Dominate the Consumer VoIP Marketplace in 2005

2004 has been a real interesting year for the world of IP Communications and things are about to get a lot more interesting. In the next few months, with the advent of the release of Nintendo’s DS and Sony’s PSP, both of these companies will be introducing realtively low cost (around US$ 200), consumer communication devices that use Wi-Fi and are optimized for gaming and inter-personal communications. Both Nintendo and Sony are well poised to become leaders in the Consumer VoIP marketplace within twelve months. To date the most well known use of VoIP in games has been with Microsoft’s XBox Live.

Both Nintendo and Sony are now leveraging the power of IP communications to incorporate both IP Voice and IP Video inside of their products, without directly marketing these products as VoIP devices on their own. Both the DS and PSP are well positioned to be living examples of “killer applications” for IP Communications. So while these companies won’t be calling their platforms powered by: “VoIP Inside”, we just need to smile when we read about the buzz surrounding these really cool consumer products.

Details regarding the DS and PSP has been written about in countless gaming magazines over the past few months but it was only recently that my kids connected the dots and told me about these new products that are well positioned to redefine gaming amongst the 10 year-old set (and their parents.)

It may be just a matter of time before some of the more creative forces within the VoIP industry start to announce the availability of commercial VoIP communication services associated with these really cool devices.

I am now trying to change my schedule to be in Los Angeles next year in May so that I can also attend E3 Expo 2005. It will be real interesting to observe how the advent of IP Communications has influenced the product offerings within the worldwide consumer gaming industry.

(special thanks to Dylan and Jake who contributed to the research of this blog entry.)

Posted by jeff on August 30, 2004 08:20 AM | Permalink

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Comments

Level3 and XBOX LIVE have over 1 million online playing XBOX LIVE..........when will MSFT become your TELECOM Carrier ??????

skibare
and AOL Beta Voip using Level3 Enabled??? WHEN will the WORLD wake up to my REALITY of ""IF you dont have Level3 Inside, your NOT really VOIPPING??"""

might want to tell your buds at Vonage that one!

Posted by: skibare at August 30, 2004 09:55 AM