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Darren Waters

Sony on the way back?

  • Darren Waters
  • 6 May 08, 20:58 GMT

Sony's that sales of its PlayStation 3 console have now overtaken the Xbox 360 in Europe will make for uncomfortable reading at Microsoft.

I've been chatting with games consultant , who told me that it was "no surprise" that the PS3 is now ahead of the 360.

But let's not forget the near-disastrous launch of PS3 16 months after the 360's debut, lack-luster early titles, production problems, delays, and seeming between Sony Europe and America.

This was a textbook example of how not to launch a machine from a position of seeming dominance.

Yet the PlayStation brand has stayed strong enough in Europe to see off the Microsoft machine.

Nick Parker believes Microsoft's inability to widen the appeal of the Xbox 360 beyond the hardcore male gamer has been its undoing.

The worry for Microsoft must be that this is the start of the doomsday scenario they had always feared would come to pass.

Microsoft's gameplan for this generation of consoles has always been simple: get in first, build a lead and then retain it.

The company bust a gut to launch the Xbox 360 before the PlayStation 3, believing its lateness to the market in the last round of machines had cost it dear.

The big question was could the lead the company would accrue be large enough to hold off the inevitable PlayStation charge?

In Europe the answer is no.

In North America, the heartland of Xbox 360, the fight continues.


Rory Cellan-Jones

Freesat - will it fly or flop?

  • Rory Cellan-Jones
  • 6 May 08, 18:53 GMT

The أغر؟´«أ½ and ITV have today launched their joint satellite television service, , which promises 200 channels by the end of this year for a one-off fee with no subscription. But when you've already got a choice bwteen BskyB, Virgin Media, Freeview and BT Vision, do you really need yet another way of getting hold of digital television?

Or to put it another way - is Freesat another Freeview, coming from nowhere to be a rip-roaring success, or an ITV Digital, where great expectations ended in disaster? (By the way, a quick declaration of interest - my salary is paid by the أغر؟´«أ½. At least it was last month).

Freesat's backers are being relatively modest in their claims for the service. It has two functions - to offer another way of getting free digital television in areas where viewers struggle to get Freeview, and to give the 10 million homes who've already got HD-ready sets a way of actually watching high definition TV without signing up to Sky or Virgin.

But as ITV's Michael Grade explained at this morning's launch, 90% of homes have already found a way to go digital - if not through Freeview, then via Sky or cable - so Freesat may have arrived a little late to play a major role in digital switchover.

What's more, BskyB has been pointing out today that for the past four years it has been offering its own free satellite service - though cynics might think that it hasn't been heavily promoted until this rival came along.

So perhaps the promise of high-definition will be the bigger draw? At launch, viewers will just get the أغر؟´«أ½ HD channel , with the promise of an ITV HD channel coming soon - which will probably not be available on Sky. But if viewers decide that HD really matters to them, will they be more likely to go the whole hog and pay up for Sky's much bigger menu of high-definition channels?

What really helped Freeview take off was a large section of the population that wanted more television - but was sniffy about having a dish or reluctant to pay a subscription. The potential audience for Freesat is bound to be much smaller, but the أغر؟´«أ½ and ITV have at least found a way of delivering their growing number of HD programmes to audiences without relying on a rival's platform.

But there's one other aspect of Freesat which makes it attractive to the أغر؟´«أ½. What the Director General Mark Thompson was keen to point out at the launch was the ethernet port in the back of the set-top box. The plan is that viewers will plug the box into their broadband connection and that this will become a way of delivering interactive services and the iPlayer to millions of homes.

Getting the iPlayer off the computer and onto the television (and it's already available on Virgin cable) is a priority for the corporation. So if Freesat can help in that mission, then it will be seen by the أغر؟´«أ½ as a success.

Darren Waters

Stating the obvious, but...

  • Darren Waters
  • 6 May 08, 16:01 GMT

I'm at the PlayStation event at the O2 in London.

It's a European press day for Sony to give a heads up on what the firm is working on over the next 12 months.

What has struck me so far is the number of video journalists here. There must be in excess of 40 or 50 VJs with cameras - from handicams, to HD rigs that would not look out of place at a major sporting event.

Most of the people here, I'm guessing, work for online publications and video has become an indispensable part of their toolset.

I'm also guessing that the video will be on websites incredibly quickly. Speed is everything on the web and these guys are the master practitioners.

I'm down here without a cameraman - we deployed our VJ on a different story today - but I hope to grab something on my mobile phone. I'm the lowest-tech tech journalist here...

Darren Waters

Zune adds TV shows: Excited?

  • Darren Waters
  • 6 May 08, 14:12 GMT

080506_ap_zune211.jpgSo the Zune will now have a in place, so users can download TV shows and watch them back on their player.

The thing is: With Zune availability limited to the US, does any one really care?

Jupiter analyst : "Microsoft has yet to provide seamless content flow from screen to screen across the range of devices supported by Microsoft technology."

The Zune marketplace does have NBC shows - which were pulled from iTunes after the firm fell out with Apple. But that's hardly a big pull for consumers.

When the Zune was in the US many people expected Microsoft would use the limited launch to learn some lessons before aggressively competing with Apple and the iPod worldwide.

That's yet to happen. Why?

Is Microsoft still learning lessons? Has it all but surrendered global domination to Apple?

Apparently the Zune IS heading for Canada. So is that the first step towards an all-out assault on the iPod?

I'll leave the final word to : "Microsoft still has a long way to go before Zune becomes a credible iPod alternative for mainstream consumers."

Darren Waters

Women and technology

  • Darren Waters
  • 6 May 08, 11:22 GMT

Meg WhitmanAre there enough women working in technology?

I don't have any figures to hand, but I think it's safe to say that women are woefully under-represented in the technology industries.

A survey landed on my desk this morning, commissioned from , which said 73% of girls aged 11 to 16 believe there is a gap between school interest in technology and a career in the industry because of a lack of UK female role models.

I've been struggling to think of some UK specific examples. So if you've any suggestions, send them on.

But here are a few high-flying women from outside the UK who have succeeded in the tech world and who should act as excellent role models:

Marissa Mayer

- the first female engineer to be hired at Google. She (pictured) is now in charge of search and user experiences at the web giant.


- until very recently, chief executive of auction giant Ebay.
- architect of the design of the $100 laptop for the program, and is currently looking at commercial spin offs of the technology.

- chairman and chief executive of Xerox, one of the world's leading tech innovators.
Patricia Russo - head of Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world's biggest network firms.

- head of product development for Genentech, one of the founders of the biotech industries.

And it's not as if successful women in technology are a new thing. Consider , viewed by many as the world's first computer programmer. And she was doing her thing back in the 19th Century.

Darren Waters

PlayStation boss answers your questions

  • Darren Waters
  • 6 May 08, 09:14 GMT

I'm interviewing , the global boss of PlayStation on Wednesday morning.

management_full_kaz.jpg

Sony is hosting a PlayStation day this afternoon at the 02 arena in London, giving an update on the business and showcasing titles that are coming out later this year.

I sit down with the PlayStation boss tomorrow morning, so if there's a burning question you want me to put to him, here's your chance.

Oh - and let's see if we can avoid turning this post into an Xbox vs PlayStation vs Wii fireball of fury!

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