Despite a highly respectable number of units shifted thus far in its life cycle, it is a well known fact that the Sony PlayStation Portable is performing below the expectations of its creators (mainly due to the overwhelming competition of the Nintendo DS). To put things into perspective, Sony expected to sell 12 million units in the financial year starting April 2006, but this figure has now dropped to 9 million.

Robert Wiesenthal, chief financial officer of Sony Corporation of America, admits that a lack of a AAA (killer app) title has hindered the console's evolution: "Clearly on the software side, any real killer title will galvanize the sales," he said, adding, "there have been a number of titles that have been terrific, but not the one title that defines the product."

Hiroshi Kamide, director of the research department at KBC Securities Japan, cited software as the key problem for Sony back in 2006, stating: "If you look at the availability of software, there are a lot of games for the PSP that are not particularly successful... You don't see any million-seller games for the PSP but you do hear about them for the Nintendo DS."

"The big problem is that while it's a wonderful-looking machine with a great display, the games are not so different from those you play at home on the PlayStation 2. Most of the software is knock-offs of PlayStation 2 titles and that won't do Sony any favours," he concluded.

It’s clear from the above that Sony know what the problem with the PSP is, but as yet haven’t been able to solve it. Meanwhile, millions of PSP owners are still waiting, many impatiently, for that first killer app. We think they may have a ways to go yet.